Spectrum Samsara
by rymac0513
Summary: After attempting to resurrect the Blue Lantern Corps, the White Lantern's ring splits into its seven basic components, six of which are sent through space to the future-fantasy world of Remnant where they seek their new bearers.
1. Death of the White Lantern

**THE SENTIENT PLANET MOGO, SECTOR 0**

White lightning arced through the sky. Kyle Rayner, the White Lantern, held his hands to the head of Saint Walker, the last surviving Blue Lantern. The White Light of Life flowed through both of them. This was it, do or die. The resurrection of the Blue Lantern Corps lay on the shoulders of Kyle and Saint Walker.

"Walker! Let go!" Kyle shouted.

"He cannot!" Ganthet, one of the last living Guardians of the Universe, shouted.

"Nor can you! The reaction has begun!" Sayd, Ganthet's wife and another Guardian said.

"It's killing him!" Kyle pleaded.

"Kyle R-Rayner," Saint Walker wheezed weakly.

"Walker?" Kyle said, lightning pouring out of his eyes.

"All w-will… be well," Saint Walker faithfully repeated his motto of Hope.

"You always doubt yourself, Kyle Rayner! No matter the great heights you achieve!" Ganthet said.

"Believe now like you never have before!" Sayd encouraged.

"I…" Kyle started, "Don't you dare die on me."

More white lightning cut the sky open.

"What in holy Hell?" Green Lantern Corps leader John Stewart asked no one in particular and started to fly over to the platform floating in the sky.

A hand placed on his chest stopped him.

"It's Kyle. Trust him." Hal Jordan, the greatest Green Lantern to ever wield a ring said.

"Here we go," Kyle grunted before screaming, a pillar of white light erupting into the sky and farther into the cosmos as plant life began covering Mogo.

"The power of life flourishes unchecked! It will consume all!" Sayd shouted as she struggled against vines attempting to entangle her.

"Guide the White Light, Kyle Rayner! Channel it to our singular purpose!" Ganthet commanded, also struggling against vines.

"I'm having some trust issues here!" John said as plant life began to overtake the massive Central Power Battery, the source of the Green Lantern's power.

"Give him more time!" Hal pleaded.

At that moment, Saint Walker found another presence within the reaction. A presence attempting to halt the resurrection.

"No… who are you? Get out. Get out!"

The White Light erupting into the cosmos died along with the plant life created by the reaction.

"Is it over?" John asked tentatively.

"God, I hope so," Hal said.

Kyle was on his knees and bent over, his White Lantern uniform nowhere in sight.

"No more… I've got… nothing left," Kyle panted.

"I felt… a presence. An intruder barring our path," Saint Walker said on the verge of tears. His brothers and sisters truly were gone for good.

"Husband? I do not understand," Sayd said.

"This is… impossible," Ganthet breathed, "No power should have been able to thwart the resurrection."

At that moment, Kyle felt empty. Powerless.

"I'm sorry. My ring… I don't feel anything," Kyle said before light from each part of the Emotional Spectrum erupted from the White Power Ring and a crack was heard.

"No!" Kyle shouted as his ring split into seven parts and voices coming from everywhere and nowhere were heard.

_Rage._

_Fear._

_Avarice._

_Will._

_Hope._

_Compassion._  
_Love._

All but one ring flew away.

_Scanning for replacement sentient._

_Scanning for replacement sentient._

_Scanning for replacement sentient._

_Scanning for replacement sentient._

_Scanning for replacement sentient._

_Scanning for replacement sentient._

_Replacement sentient found._ The Green Lantern Power Ring said, floating in front of Kyle.

"In all my life… this is the first time I have been devoid of hope." Ganthet said hollowly.

"A long life maybe, Ganthet. But a short memory," Kyle said, reaching for the Green Lantern Power Ring and slipping it on his finger, "I remember when there weren't any Green Lanterns left. Just me. I carried the torch. That was a dark time. We survived."

Kyle's mask formed over his face, "I don't know what threats are coming. All I know is they're going to have their hands full. Because the Green Lantern Corps is back. And that's not all."  
Kyle's gauntlet formed over his arm.

_Kyle Rayner of Earth._ The Green Power Ring said.

"Yes. You will most certainly do." Ganthet said, recalling his words to Kyle as he handed him, what was at the time, the last Green Lantern Power Ring all those years ago.

_Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps._

"I'm back. Let's get to work," Kyle said, donning his classic Green Lantern uniform.

Hal flew up to the platform, "What happened? Kyle? Where's your White ring?"

At that moment, Saint Walker flew off, muttering, "I must find it," over and over.

"Walker?" Kyle asked, "Where are you going?"

"There was a blue Power Ring!" Saint Walker said exasperatedly, before launching after the Power Rings.

"Come on, Hal, let's go!" Kyle said, flying after Saint Walker.

"But-! Ah, hell," Hal said, flying after Kyle.

The trio of Lanterns flew through the cosmos after the rogue Power Rings moving quadrillions of times faster than light. An hour later Hal said, "I'm engaging hibernation mode. Wake me up when they stop."

Four hours later Kyle also engaged hibernation mode, leaving Saint Walker alone with two sleeping green blurs.

Soon, the trio reached the edge of charted space and Hal and Kyle woke up.

"Why'd we stop?" Kyle asked, hoping he wasn't too out of practice with a Green Ring.

"This is the edge of Sector 3600. It's as far as the rings are programmed to take us," Hal said.  
"The other rings aren't stopping," Kyle pointed out.

"They aren't Green Lantern Rings," Hal countered.

"Good point," Kyle said.

The trio flew through the starless sector, past a planet Hal had hoped he'd never have to see again. The Manhunter homeworld of Biot. As Hal flew through the empty space, he felt a tugging on his ring. Looking behind him, Hal saw a fleet of Manhunters, the Guardians of the Universe's first attempt at bringing order to the vast cosmos which rebelled against their creators. Worst of all, inside the heads of the androids, a Power Battery was stored which could forcibly steal any energy from the Emotional Spectrum. Hal doubted that they could steal the energy from the ring he forged himself, which had never needed a recharge, but Kyle and Walker were in danger.

"Heads up, we have Manhunters on our tail," Hal warned, shooting off a tri-beam that took out three of the androids.

"Thanks for the warning, Hal," Kyle said, constructing a mech with a sword and missile launchers that turned a dozen Manhunters into scrap.

The Manhunters opened fire, forcing Hal and Kyle to either dodge or block the lasers.

Lasers whizzed past Saint Walker's head but he didn't take his eyes off the traveling blue ring, letting Hal and Kyle do the dirty work.

A group of Manhunters broke formation and swarmed Hal and Kyle, opening up their faceplates, revealing the integrated Power Battery. As predicted, it had no effect on Hal's ring, which had a limitless charge, as it was powered by Hal himself.

Kyle was having issues. Every time a Manhunter was decimated by Kyle, two more took its place. Kyle's ring was losing charge fast.

"A little help, Hal?" Kyle asked, struggling wildly against the Manhunters around him.

Hal created a plethora of claws, each grabbing a Manhunter and crushing them in its grip until Kyle was free.

Turning back to the Manhunter fleet, Hal imagined a fighter jet chock-full of high yield explosives and it became a reality, sent careening through space at breakneck speed and collided with the lead Manhunters, incinerating the remaining androids.

_Power Levels 13.9%_

"Damn," Kyle said, "I'm low."

"Recharge then," Hal said.

"I know. I'm not stupid," Kyle said, opening the rift into the pocket dimension where his Power Battery was stored.

Pulling the Power Battery out, Kyle stuck his ring in the port and recited the oath, "In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight, let those who worship evil's might, beware my power— Green Lantern's light!"

_Power Levels 100%_

"Hey, Walker, what charge are you on?" Kyle asked.

_Power Levels 76.3%_

"More than enough, Kyle Rayner," Saint Walker said.

Flying through space in silence, the three eventually breached the border of sector 3602, where they continued traveling until reaching sector 3613. As the three entered sector 3613, a planet came into focus. A planet remarkably similar to Hal and Kyle's home. The rings breached the atmosphere and the red ring suddenly diverged from the path of all the others.

"Oh hell," Kyle said, "Red rings are bad news, I gotta save the poor schmuck it's going after."

"Go ahead, Walker and I will make sure the blue ring finds a good home," Hal said, flying after the cluster of five rings.

Kyle diverged from the path and flew after the red ring. The distance between them was close, but the red ring wasn't pulling a full-size adult behind it. Kyle noticed when the sky turned purple and the red ring continued on its path toward a castle. Kyle almost grabbed the Red Lantern ring before it phased through a wall of the castle, and Kyle crashed through it.

Kyle heard someone exclaim in shock and saw the ring forcing itself onto a behemoth of a man who stood next to a girl with green hair and a boy with gray, almost silver hair.

_Hazel Rainart of Remnant. You have great rage in your heart. You belong to the Red Lantern Corps._

Hazel was no match for the Red Power Ring as he vomited all the blood in his body out of his mouth and it was replaced by the liquid fire of the Red Lantern Corps. Hazel's mind went dark and only thoughts of rage remained, his clothes turning red and black with the Red Lantern Corps symbol emblazoned upon his chest. Fortunately, the nearby green-haired girl and gray-haired boy were not the targets of his rage. Kyle was.

**ATLAS, REMNANT, SECTOR 3613**

Hal and Saint Walker followed the remaining five rings to a floating city where their paths diverged once more. The violet, indigo, yellow, and orange rings flew off their path, while the blue ring continued.

"Dammit," Hal said before turning to Walker, "You go after the blue ring. I'll find the yellow one."

"As you wish, Hal Jordan," Saint Walker complied.

Hal flew after the yellow ring. The bright yellow stood out among the endless white of the tundra.

Suddenly, the ring made a sharp ninety-degree turn down to the ground, and Hal continued, overshooting the ring. He had lost precious time.

Flying back to the yellow ring, Hal saw it had found its host.

_Tyrian Callows of Remnant. You have the ability to instill great fear. Welcome to the Sinestro Corps._

Tyrian Callows admired the ring on his finger like an engagement ring, and let out a series of cackles that would certainly make the Joker jealous.

"And who might you be?" Tyrian asked, a wild look in his eyes.

"Hal Jordan, Green Lantern Corps Officer 2814.1. I'm going to need that ring."

Tyrian hummed before saying, "No, I think I'll keep this," before unleashing a blast of yellow energy which Hal casually blocked.

Hal smiled and cracked his knuckles, "You asked for it, bud."

* * *

After Cinder snatched the Relic of Knowledge from Neo, she saw an orange blur out of the corner of her eye. Cinder turned around to find a ring forcing itself on her good hand. She desperately tried to get it off, but it was too strong. The ring settled on her hand and her eye glowed orange.

_Cinder Fall of Remnant. You want it all._

"Mine," Cinder muttered, clutching the Relic to her chest.

Neo stepped towards her and Cinder slapped her away with her Grimm arm.

"Mine! Not yours!" Cinder shouted before flying off to find the Winter Maiden.

* * *

Ruby was sitting next to Penny. Thinking about everything that had just happened when a blur of blue and violet crashed into the ship. Flying around the cabin in blurs, everyone began to panic until they slowed and showed their true form. Rings. The blue one hovering in front of Ruby, and the violet one in front of Nora.

_Ruby Rose of Remnant. You have the ability to instill great hope. Welcome to the Blue Lantern Corps._

Instinctually, Ruby extended her hand, to which the rings slipped on. In a flash of blue light, Ruby's clothes were transformed.

Ruby now wore a blue version of her current clothes with a lantern symbol replacing her rose emblem.

Nobody even breathed, too in awe of the phenomenon that had just occurred before their very eyes.

Before anyone spoke a word, the door to the cabin of the airship was forced open, and an alien wearing a suit similar to Ruby's stepped in.

Everyone immediately assumed combat positions.

The alien only smiled and said, "Sister Rose, welcome to the Blue Lantern Corps."

* * *

Arthur Watts was sitting in his prison cell, one leg resting over another, nursing a black eye when an explosion knocked him to the other end of the room. Struggling to get up, Watts rubbed his head. He was seeing double. Once the disorientation subsided, Watts turned to the source of the explosion and saw an indigo ring floating in the air, which then forced itself onto his finger.

_Arthur Watts of Remnant. Nok._

Watts looked at the ring and knew what to do. He ran to the hole in the wall. He jumped and he flew. Watts didn't know what was happening, but he knew he felt a feeling he had never felt before. Compassion. Through compassion, he felt guilt for those he had hurt. Watts heard the guards coming to investigate the explosion so he jumped out the window and flew away.

**EVERNIGHT, REMNANT, SECTOR 3613**

Hazel's sights were set on Kyle. Blood was dripping from his mouth. Hazel roared and charged at Kyle.

Kyle pointed at the ground and created a rake with a hammerhead at the top. Hazel didn't pay the construct any mind and stepped on the rake, which flipped up and bashed him on the head.

As Hazel stumbled back and roared, blood flew out of his mouth and burned a hole straight through the floor.

Kyle pointed his ring at Hazel, a massive snake emerging and coiling itself around Hazel. Transforming the snake into a cage, Kyle lifted them into the air and began to fly off when something bounced off his force field. He'd felt the sensation many times before. It was a bullet. Kyle turned around and the green-haired girl held a similarly colored gun pointed at him.

"What was that for?" Kyle asked.

"You're kidnapping our friend," the girl said.

"He's not your friend right now, but I know someone who can help him," Kyle said.

"I don't trust you," the girl said.

"You can't stop me," Kyle replied before flying off to find Saint Walker.

**ATLESIAN TUNDRA, REMNANT, SECTOR 3613**

Hal blocked another weak yellow beam from Tyrian. The fight had been underwhelming to say the least. Tyrian had no clue how to shape the energy from the yellow ring, he was even less adept at using it than Hal, which he considered an achievement. As Tyrian shot another beam, Hal was distracted by the rolling of thunder and a massive black cloud approaching the floating city. Hal wasn't expecting the large `maw of a flying whale to emerge from the black cloud. Not that this was anything strange for Hal.

Without even looking, Hal deflected another one of Tyrian's beams directly back at him, knocking the psychopath out cold.

Hal wrapped the yellow ring wielder in chains before flying into the sky where he combatted the flying gorillas.

* * *

"Sister Rose, welcome to the Blue Lantern Corps," Saint Walker said, welcoming the newcomer with open arms, literally.

"What are you?" a girl wearing pink and blue asked.

"I am Saint Walker of the Blue Lantern Corps, an intergalactic peacekeeping organization," Saint Walker explained.

"Blue… Lantern Corps?" Ruby asked, looking at the ring on her finger.

"I am sure you have many questions, Sister Rose, and I'd be delighted to answer them," Saint Walker said, taking a step closer.

"Back off!" a blonde-haired girl with a robotic arm said.

"Such a grievous wound," Saint Walker said softly, examining the girl's arm before turning his ring to her and encapsulating her in its aura.

_Target Locked._

The girl charged but was pacified by the calming blue aura, her violet eyes turning blue. The mechanical arm fell to the ground and a blue construct of her original arm took its place before solidifying and turning flesh-colored.

Everyone gasped.

"Wha-? How?" the girl asked, looking at her restored arm and flexing her fingers.

"It's the power of the Blue Light of Hope," Saint Walker said.

"Can I do that too?" Ruby asked excitedly.

"With practice, yes," Saint Walker said before someone else spoke up.

"So you're from outer space? Are these rings from outer space too?" a girl with white hair asked.

"Yes," Saint Walker said.

At that moment the sky darkened, thunder rolled, and voices came over comms.

"We've got multiple hostiles on radar. Is anyone else seeing this?" a male asked

"These readings can't be right," a female pilot replied.

A flicker of red lightning revealed a large shape behind the clouds, which was eventually revealed to be a whale monster.

The dread in the air was tangible.

"We're doomed," someone whispered.

"Do not worry. All will be well!" Saint Walker recited.

"All will be well…" Ruby repeated.

"How do you know that?" a girl with black hair and ears sticking out of the top of her head asked.

"Because Hal Jordan is here," Saint Walker said simply.

"Whoever that is, even if he can beat the Grimm, he can't win. Their leader, Salem, is immortal," she responded

"Ah," Saint Walker said, the smile on his face not wavering for a moment, "So it's as he would put it, 'Tuesday.'"

* * *

Hal charged through the swarm of flying gorillas.

"Eat this, Grodd!" he shouted, sending dozens of missiles in each direction and slamming others with a giant mallet before flying in front of the whale.

Hal willed a megaphone into existence and spoke into it, "I don't know what you are, but you gotta turn back! If you don't, you'll regret it!"

The whale monster didn't change course. Hal didn't expect it to.

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" Hal said as the megaphone disappeared.

Looking at the sheer size of the thing, Hal knew he'd need to use more firepower than usual.

Kyle would probably create a giant detailed robot to ride inside of. Hal liked things simpler. Aiming his Power Ring at the bulbous nose of the whale, Hal began to charge.

Lightning flew up his arm and Hal's muscles tightened. Hal charged energy until his ring felt fit to burst.

And he let it rip.

A beam of tangible Willpower shot from his ring at speeds faster than light and flew into the whale and out the other end. The whale fell for a moment before disintegrating into ash. Having destroyed the largest monster, Hal pointed his ring above the remaining gorillas and formed a rectangle above them, a rectangle below them, and he slammed them together.

Hal held the rectangles in place for a moment before disappearing them.

"Hey, Walker, where are yo-" Hal said into his ring before he was blasted by fire, lightning, and ice.

Hal was knocked through the air but quickly recovered, and when he turned around, he saw a white-skinned woman coated in a purple glow.

"You killed them all…" the woman whispered before she intensified, "You ruined everything!"

* * *

Everyone inside the airship with the exception of Saint Walker watched Hal with gaping mouths and wide eyes.

"Did he just destroy that thing with one shot?"

"He took out all the Grimm at once."

As a boy in green was about to say something, an orange construct impaled him.

"Ren!" Everyone shouted before the door he was impaled through was ripped off the plane and sent to the ground below, along with Ren.

The girl with short orange hair didn't hesitate to jump out of the moving aircraft after him. "I trust you can handle this on your own, Sister Rose," Saint Walker said before following suit

Ruby activated Crescent Rose and stood ready along with her team and Jaune when Cinder flew in, encased in an orange glow, a ring of the same color on a finger of her good hand.

Bullets flew and swords slashed, but it was all completely ineffective against the protection of an Orange Lantern Ring. Ruby threw down Crescent Rose and pointed her ring at the woman who may have just killed another one of her friends. Ruby tried to do what Hal did and make shapes, but it would not work.

"It's mine!" Cinder said as she stalked closer to Penny, "The power will be mine!"

Cinder charged up a shot from the orange ring and shot it at Penny, who leaned out of the way. A shower of sparks followed and the airship began to lose altitude.

"Uh-oh," Maria said.

"Mine!" Cinder screeched, lunging at Penny, and tackling her to the front of the airship. The airship was now on a downward path, heading straight for the ground. Ruby saw this and braced herself before she smelled ozone the windshield became covered in green and the airship's descent stopped slowly.

_Willpower detected._ Ruby's ring chirped.

_Constructs unlocked._

_Attack beams unlocked._

As Cinder was wrestling with Penny, Ruby pointed her ring at Cinder and a burst of blue energy emerged from the ring and struck Cinder in the back, sending her into the windshield.

While the airship was being lowered to the ground, Ruby felt hope in her heart and imagined a hand wrapping around Cinder. Her thoughts became a reality.

* * *

Kyle flew through the planet's atmosphere, the newly minted Red Lantern in tow. As Kyle neared the Blue Lantern signature, he heard a grunt from behind him. Hazel must have woken up.

To Kyle's shock, he spoke, "What happened. Where am I?"

"You're talking?!" Kyle asked, looking back.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"A Red Lantern Power Ring found its way onto your finger," Kyle explained, "Nasty little thing. Blinds its host with Rage. Which is why I'm surprised you're lucid."

"Well," Hazel said, standing up in his cage, "I've had to live with rage for a while now."

Hazel reached to take the ring off his finger.

"No!" Kyle shouted, part of the cage shifting to trap his hand in a bubble.

"What's the matter?" Hazel asked.

"It's kinda hard to break it to you easily, but that ring is your heart now," Kyle said.

"What?" Hazel asked, unsure if he had heard correctly.

"The Red Lantern Power Ring replaces your heart. If you take the ring off, you die," Kyle told him.

"So this is stuck on my finger for the rest of time?" Hazel wondered, looking at the ring.

"No, I'm bringing you to someone who can safely take the ring off," Kyle said, looking forward as the floating city came into view.

"Ring, find the nearest Blue Lantern energy signature," Kyle said.

_Scanning… Nearest Blue Lantern energy signature found._

Kyle followed the course to Saint Walker, who was inside a plane that had a door ripped off and orange light filling the cabin. Suddenly, the plane tipped forward and plummeted toward the ground.

Kyle pointed his ring in front of the plane and a mech was built from the ground up before catching the plane in its hands and lowering it down to the ground. Kyle flew down to the plane and entered through the doorway.

"Hey, Walker, we have a red that needs cleans-" Kyle started before he saw the bearer of the ring was not Saint Walker, but a teenage girl, who had another girl wearing an orange ring trapped in a construct.

Every head in the plane turned to Kyle.

"You're not Saint Walker," Kyle told the girl.

"He went out into the tundra," the girl with the blue ring told Kyle.

"Why'd he do that?" Kyle asked.

"Cinder hurt our friend and threw him out of the airship. I think Walker is trying to heal him.

"I see. Well, I'll just take that ring," Kyle said, creating a beam that slipped under the blue construct and slipped the orange ring off the other girl's finger.

Forming a bubble around the orange ring, Kyle commanded, "Ring, store this ring away in a pocket universe."

_Pocket universe established._ Kyle's ring said as the orange ring seemingly popped out of existence.

"So those rings come from outer space?" a girl who was too young to have hair so white asked.

"I'll explain later. I have to find Saint Walker," Kyle said, flying off.

* * *

Saint Walker jumped out of the aircraft after the boy in green and girl in pink. His eyes caught sight of the boy's limp form trailing blood through the air. Walker accelerated and flew down to the boy before grabbing him and floating safely to the ground.

When they reached the ground, Walker set the boy down and pointed his ring at the boy when there was an explosion behind him. Looking back, Walker saw the girl in pink land in the snow, surprisingly unhurt.

"Ren!" she cried, running over to the boy with tears in her eyes.

"My friend, you must stay back. I need to focus in order to heal his wounds," Saint Walker told the girl.

"Right… right," the girl said, moving back.

Saint Walker pointed his ring at the hole in the boy's stomach and fired a beam. The tissue first regrew as blue light before solidifying and it was repeated with each layer.

_Nora Valkyrie of Remnant. You have great love in your heart. Welcome to the Star Sapphires._

Saint Walker looked away from his work and saw a Star Sapphire Power Ring had landed in front of the girl.

The girl reached her hand out and the ring floated onto her hand before settling. In a flash of violet light, the girl's clothes changed to the Star Sapphire color scheme of violet and black, while the hammer symbols changed to a star.

Saint Walker looked back to the boy, whose wounds had closed up, and he began to stir.

"Ren!" the girl cried, running to his side and kneeling down.

"Nora? Why are we down here? What happened?" he asked.

"You almost died!" Nora sobbed.

"Oh…" the boy said, still somewhat confused.

"Walker!" a voice in the distance called.

Turning around, Saint Walker saw Kyle descend from the sky, a green cage in tow.

"Kyle Rayner!" Saint Walker greeted.

"Hey, I got a red that needs cleansing," Kyle said.

Looking past him and into the cage behind him, Saint Walker saw a massive man sitting calmly.

"Are you sure he's a Red Lantern?" Saint Walker asked. Red Lanterns were normally frothing at the mouths with blood and attacking everything in sight.

"He has the ring on his finger and he pukes acid blood," Kyle said, "I'm sure he's a Red Lantern."

"Then I will heal him," Saint Walker said.

"I don't need healing," the large man refuted.

"Your heart is not beating. We must restart it," Saint Walker pleaded.

"No," he insisted.

"Kyle Rayner, I cannot heal a Red Lantern who is not willing to be healed," Saint Walker said.

"You never told me that was a rule!" Kyle said.

"You never asked," Saint Walker replied simply.

Turning to the large man, Kyle asked, "Hazel, if I let you go will you try to kill us?"

"No," the man promised.

"Alright," Kyle said, dispersing the cage.

Looking at Nora and Ren, Hazel said, "Hey."

Ren jumped up and drew his pistols and Nora aimed her ring at him.

Kyle jumped between the three, saying, "Hey, hey, hey, we're all friends here."

"No. We're not," Nora said.

"He's a murderer," Ren said.

"I'm not fighting you again," Hazel said, "We all know how well last time went."

"Yeah, I threw your ass through a wall!" Nora shouted.

"Everything other than that," Hazel said.

As the tension in the air grew thicker, Kyle spotted an indigo blur flying through the sky.

"Well I guess we found the Indigo Lantern," Kyle said, constructing a grappling hook and taking aim before firing at the indigo blur. The line went tight and Kyle reeled the indigo blur in.

The Indigo Lantern crashed into the ground and revealed itself as a middle-aged man with a mustache in an expensive-looking suit, with the Indigo Tribe symbol on his forehead.

He looked at the group around him, not paying Ren any mind, but his eyes lingered on Kyle, expanding in shock at the sight of Saint Walker, before seeing Hazel.

"Hazel. What are you doing here?" he asked.

* * *

"I'm not too sorry about that. It seems like you were sending these monsters to attack this city," Hal said, "Unless you need a monster army for other reasons."

"Shut up!" the woman screamed, shooting dozens of magic blasts out of her hands.

Hal batted away all the magic blasts that were sent his way and flew up to the woman and constructed a straight jacket. For the first time, Hal saw the woman's face up close, and he nearly lost his concentration on the straight jacket.

"You…" Hal whispered, "You're alive?!"

"What?" the woman asked.

"I thought the gods killed you," Hal said, "What happened to your skin?"

The woman's eyes narrowed, "What are you talking about?"  
"I… I was the God of Light once. Then I met your God of Light. I saw you lead a rebellion against them, and I saw them kill everyone on the planet. Except you, I guess," Hal explained.

"You were a god?" the woman asked.

"I wasn't ready for the baggage that godhood came with," Hal admitted before saying, "Look, I've been in your shoes before. I lost everything. I acted out. I hurt people. If I wasn't too far gone, neither are you."

Flashes of his time as Parallax came to the forefront of Hal's mind. Sitting in the ruins of Coast City, nearly killing the other Green Lanterns, actually killing Kilowog, absorbing the Central Power Battery, destroying the universe, and finally, sacrificing his life while reigniting the sun.

"You don't know what I've done," the woman sneered.

"Same goes for you. I hurt so many people. Betrayed those I loved. I came back from it. I'm sure you can too."

"Redemption?" the woman laughed, "Redemption doesn't exist!"

"If I can believe in it, who can't?" Hal asked.

"I've come too far to give it all up now!" the woman said.

"Please," Hal pleaded, "Don't do this. Save yourself."

The woman was silent for a moment before she sighed, looked at Hal, and said, "No."  
"I warned you," Hal said before the woman flashed in all the colors of the spectrum. She screamed.

When the flashing stopped, the woman panted and asked, "What… did… you… do?"

"I sapped all the magic from your body," Hal explained, "I'm sorry I had to do it."

"Let our goddess go!" a shrill voice from behind shouted as Hal was blasted in the back, the edges of his vision flaring yellow. Hal lost concentration, the straight jacket diminished, and gravity took hold of the woman as she dropped to the ground like a rock.

Hal had heard the sound many times before and it never got any less sickening. The sound of a life being ended.

After that, he heard Tyrian let out a blood-curdling shriek. Floating down to where Tyrian was mourning the woman, Hal laid a hand on his shoulder.

Tyrian's head whipped around to face Hal, "What did you do?! Why isn't she regenerating?!"

"I sapped the magical energy from her," Hal said.

"You fool! Her immortality was magic!" Tyrian snarled.

"Hey, this isn't my fault. You're the idiot who shot me in the back," Hal said.

"Shut up!" Tyrian wailed before saying, "Drop that force-field. Let's settle this for real."

Standing up, Tyrian's yellow aura dropped. Hal did the same, exposing his body to the cold tundra. The green on his uniform was warm, but the black, which was already cold to begin with, was freezing.

"One shot each," Hal said.

"One shot each," Tyrian echoed.

Hal and Tyrian walked backward, the snow crunching underfoot. They stopped moving once they made it to a respectable forty feet apart. Hal and Tyrian's eyes met. The lifeless white lenses of Hal's mask collided with the psychotic yellow irises of Tyrian.

"Take that mask off, Hal. I like to see people's eyes when I kill them," Tyrian taunted.

Hal thought about removing the mask, and in a sheen of emerald light, it disappeared from his face, leaving his brown eyes exposed to Tyrian, no fear in them at all. That was new for Tyrian.

Hal's eyes flicked down to Tyrian's ring hand and back up to his eyes. Hal's fist tightened and relaxed.

Tyrian's hand curled into a fist one finger at a time, his right leg moving back.

Hal narrowed his eyes and focused on Tyrian's heart.

It was over before it even began. Tyrian's arm shot up at inhuman speeds but Hal moved faster and his aim was truer. A beam of jade light perforated Tyrian's chest, while gold glided through Hal's shoulder.

Hal grunted and Tyrian laughed. Blood gushed from Hal's shoulder. Hal stemmed the bleeding easily enough by wrapping a bandage construct around his shoulder before he put his arm in a sling.

_Ring status. Sinestro 3613 deceased. Space sector 3613 for replacement sentient initiated._ The yellow ring said as it flew off Tyrian's finger.

"Oh no you don't," Hal said, snatching the ring in a claw and crushing it.

Hal walked over to Tyrian, and saw his reflection in a pool of his blood. Hal was younger yet older with gray streaks in his hair. The grey streaks that Parallax gave him. His arm was in a sling just like now. He was wearing his older uniform as well, the one with the green around his crotch. He was sitting in the ruins of Coast City. It was the day he lost himself to Fear. The day Parallax truly took over.

_Why am I seeing this?_ Hal wondered.

Shaking off the momentary shock of reliving one of his worst moments, Hal constructed a casket around Tyrian and the woman who he seemed to worship.

"Ring, find Kyle," Hal said.

Hal tracked Kyle a few miles away and landed next to him, along with a crashed aircraft.

Hal looked around and found a man in a Red Lantern uniform, a man with the Indigo Tribe symbol on his forehead, a girl in a Star Sapphire uniform, and a girl in a Blue Lantern uniform, along with several others.

"Hal Jordan! We have found a new Blue Lantern! The universe is not without hope any longer!" Saint Walker cheered, but he mellowed out when he noticed the two coffins that Hal had behind him.

"Who's in there?" a boy with spiky blonde hair asked.

"You might want to brace yourselves. It's not pretty," Hal said before opening the lids, revealing Tyrian and the woman.

Everyone except Saint Walker and Kyle gasped.

"That's… that's not possible," the Blue Lantern girl said, "Salem's immortal."

"Yeah… apparently her immortality is magical… I kinda drained all her magic," Hal said.

"What can't those rings do?" a girl with blonde hair asked.

"Not a lot," Hal said.

"So Salem is dead?" the Red Lantern asked, "What will we do now?"

"We find the gods. Hold them accountable for their crimes," Hal said.

Silence filled the group.

"How do you know about the gods?" the Blue Lantern girl asked.

"Because I was a God of Light once. I met your God of Light. I saw what he did. Also, this space sector was originally thought to be devoid of life. Since that's not the case, it's going to need a Green Lantern of its own," Hal said, creating a ring with his own and watching as it zipped to the blonde-haired boy.

_Jaune Arc of Remnant. You have the ability to overcome great fear. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps._

**Thanks to DeltaFell for editing this chapter. If you're confused about when Hal became a god, you should check out my other story, Gods of Light.**


	2. Rises and Falls

"Huh," Hal said, "So you're the second most strong-willed person on the planet."

Kyle cleared his throat.

"Sorry, third most strong-willed," Hal amended.

Jaune reached for the ring that Hal constructed and slipped it on his finger. Emerald light slid over Jaune's body, the gold on his armor and the red sash around his waist turned green and his clothes turned black, but his armor remained a bright white. He noticeably lacked the Lantern on his chest.

Kyle heard the buzzing first. Looking up, he saw the airships flying towards the group.

Nudging Ruby, Kyle asked, "Hey, are they friendly, or should we be running?"

Ruby looked at the airships and back to Kyle. She sighed and said, "Neither."

"So they aren't friendly, but we shouldn't be getting out of here or shooting them down?"

"No. General Ironwood felt betrayed by us, so he labeled us outlaws. But with Salem dead, we don't have to be enemies."

"How'd you betray him?" Hal asked.

The blonde girl mumbled something Hal couldn't understand.

"Come again?" Hal asked.

"We didn't tell him Salem was immortal and Blake and I leaked military information to an outlaw. It's not that big a deal, right?" the blonde girl said.

Hal slapped his forehead.

"You kept pivotal information from a general and you leaked sensitive information to your enemy?" Hal asked, "I've never been good with authority but this is ridiculous! My ten-year-old nephew has more sense than you!"

"She wasn't our enemy," Blake said, "She was General Ironwood's."

"So what?! You don't tell anyone anything about military projects!" Hal stressed.

"She was stealing supplies. We had to stop her from doing it somehow!" Blake said.

"Maybe you could have arrested her?" Hal suggested rhetorically.

"But she was trying to help people," she responded, defeated.

"Ohhhhhhh, so she was stealing from your friend but it was okay because it's for the greater good!" Hal sniped back.

Before anyone could get another word in, the airships landed and squads of soldiers filed out and pointed their weapons at the group.

"Surrender peacefully now or we will use force!" the commander ordered.

"Can you show Ironwood Salem's body so he stops going nuts and calms down?" the blonde girl asked Hal.

Hal walked up to the squad of soldiers and said, "My name is Hal Jordan, Green Lantern Officer 2814.1. I am ordering you to stand down."

A few soldiers exchanged looks before the commander asked, "Under whose authority are you ordering us?"

"The Guardians of the Universe's," Hal said.

"Yeah, right," the commander said before firing at Hal.

Hal extended his ring hand and a brick wall built itself from the ground up and each bullet bounced off before moving the wall up and wrapping it around the soldiers, trapping them.

Hal constructed a bubble around everyone in the group who didn't have a ring and lifted off. Once they were far enough away, he released the soldiers from their prison.

Turning to Ruby, Hal asked, "So where is this General Ironwood?"

Ruby pointed into the distance, at a spire in the center of the floating city.

"So why did you lie to this guy?" Kyle asked.

"We weren't sure we could trust him," Ruby answered.

"Why weren't you sure?" Hal asked.

"He overreacts sometimes. Telling him may have hurt more than it helped," Ruby explained.

Hal mumbled something under his breath.

"Huh?" Ruby asked.

"We're here," Hal said, setting down on the landing pad.

Hal looked around the landing pad, dozens of destroyed robots and bullet holes littering it.

"Lead the way, kid," Kyle said to Ruby.

Ruby led the group through the desolate, winding halls of the building until they came upon a door.

"He's probably not going to be too happy to see us," Ruby warned before she pushed the door open.

In the office, a man in white was hunched over his desk with his face in his hand. His shoulders were shaking.

"General Ironwood?" Ruby asked tentatively.

The man looked up with red eyes and tears streaming down his face. He stood up and his hand went to his side where a handgun rested but stopped halfway.

Ironwood sighed defeatedly and asked, "What do you want? Why are you here?"

Ironwood's eyes widened when they fell on Hazel, Watts, and Saint Walker.

His hand flew to his side once more and drew his gun, backing up.

"You're working with her now?!" Ironwood asked, pointing his gun at Hazel and Watts, before pointing it at Saint Walker and asking, "What is that?"

"Salem is dead, General," Ruby said.

"Don't you dare mock me!" Ironwood roared.

"It's true," Hal said, floating Salem's glowing green coffin up to Ironwood and popping the lid, revealing her mangled corpse, "See for yourself."

Ironwood looked at the corpse and then to Hal and said, "Who are you? How did this happen?"

"My name is Hal Jordan, Green Lantern Officer 2814.1. I sapped Salem of her magical energy, and she was killed by Tyrian."

"Green Lantern? Sapped her magical energy?" Ironwood asked, "What are you talking about?"

Not saying anything, Saint Walker approached Ironwood and pointed his ring at him.

"What are you?" Ironwood asked.

"I am a Blue Lantern," Saint Walker replied before his ring chirped.

_Target Locked._

Ironwood's eyes widened as he was encased in a blue glow. He fell to his knees and closed his eyes.

"You are in anguish," Saint Walker told him, "I will fix that."

The blue light intensified. Everyone except Saint Walker shielded their eyes. Saint Walker watched intently.

The blue light subsided, and Ironwood blinked. He looked down at his bandaged arm and ripped the bandages off. He moved his arm around and flexed his fingers before looking at Saint Walker in awe.

"How did you do that?" Ironwood asked.

Saint Walker smiled and simply said, "Hope."

Ironwood stood up, rubbed his eyes, and smiled.

"My mind is clearer now," Ironwood said before the realization hit him like a truck and he said, "Oscar."

"Oscar?" Ruby asked, "What about him?"

"I shot him. His Aura broke," Ironwood said.

"What?!" Jaune shouted.

"I wasn't thinking straight! My mind was clouded with fear."

"Who's Oscar?" Kyle whispered to Nora.

"He's a 14-year-old reincarnating wizard," Nora whispered back.

"Oh God," Kyle said, "He shot a kid?"

At that moment, a flash of green appeared, not stemming from Hal, Kyle, or Jaune, and a young boy wearing a green overcoat appeared in the room.

"Oscar?" Ironwood asked before he embraced him, "I'm so sorry! I thought I killed you! I wasn't thinking straight!"

Oscar awkwardly patted Ironwood on the back and said "It's… alright, General."

At the sight of Oscar, Hazel's ring glowed and he vomited the liquid fire his blood had been replaced with.

_Rage._

_Hate._

_Blood._

Hazel charged, but he didn't make it a yard when he was restrained by three green constructs, two blue constructs, a violet construct, and an indigo construct.

Hazel struggled against the ropes and chains but it was useless. He was overpowered.

Ironwood took his first good look at the group and was shocked when he saw Cinder restrained by a blue hand.

"You captured Cinder?" he asked.

"Yeah. She's been weirdly quiet too," Ruby said.

"I have nothing to say to you," Cinder spat.

"Oh."

"So why is Cinder tied up but Hazel and Watts aren't?" Ironwood asked.

"They didn't attack us," Hal said.

"Wait, what is Watts doing out of prison?" Ironwood asked.

"The ring blew a hole in the wall," Watts said.

"Well you're going back," Ironwood told him, approaching Watts.

"Hang on," Hal intervened, walking between Watts and Ironwood, "Whatever he's done, he's changed."

"How would you know that?" Ironwood asked, looking directly into Hal's eyes.

"He's wearing an Indigo Lantern ring. The Indigo rings rewire sociopath's brains into feeling compassion."

"I see..." Ironwood said, clearly unnerved at the concept, "What does a Lantern do?"

"It depends on the color. Greens are cops, Blues are peacekeepers, Reds are agents of vengeance, Oranges are hoarders," Kyle explained.

"Hang on a second," Jaune interrupted, "Why does Cinder still have the Relic of Knowledge? Did no one take that from her?"

"Oh, I guess I forgot," Ruby said. A hole in the large hand holding Cinder in place appeared, and Ruby reached onto Cinder's belt and took the lamp.

"You said you stole Salem's magic?" Ironwood asked Hal.

"Yeah," Hal confirmed.

"Can you do that to Cinder?"

"Are you not equipped to contain her?" Hal asked.

"Not as she is, no," Ironwood admitted.

"Alright…" Hal said, connecting a tether to Cinder.

"No! Please don't!" Cinder pleaded.

Hal didn't listen to her as he absorbed her power.

Once Cinder dropped to the ground, Ironwood called in a pair of guards.

"Take her to the holding cells," Ironwood ordered.

Once Cinder was dealt with, Nora turned to Hal and asked, "Earlier you said you'd find the gods and hold them accountable. How do you plan to do that?"

"I've met the God of Light before," Hal recalled, "And he was so familiar. I could feel it. I've met his kind before, but I can't for the life of me remember what race he was."

Hal's mind was the vast expanse of space, the memory his Power Ring, and Hal was left floating, the Power Ring just out of his reach. His fingers fumbled with it, only sending the memory deeper into his mind. Hal didn't give up. He doesn't know how. Soon, Hal snatched the memory and he found himself in a gray leotard with the Green Lantern symbol literally burning on his chest. He wore a green cloak and hood, his skin as white as snow, with green boots coming up to below his knees, and green gloves ending just below his elbows. The only thing that was familiar to Hal was the green domino mask over his eyes. Then he remembered. This was his costume as the Spectre. Hal was reliving his time as God's Spirit of Redemption.

Words echoed through his mind.

_The Risen._

_The Nameless Land._

Hal's head perked up, "The Risen!" he shouted, "The gods are Risen!"

"The what?" Kyle asked.

"When I was Spectre, I met a race of ancient beings called the Risen, I remember the energy they gave off, and it's identical to the energy the God of Light gave off!" Hal explained, "We can start our search for the gods there!"

"Alright, Hal, we're trusting you on this," Kyle said.

"Alright, I'm linking up our rings," Hal told the ring bearers before saying to Kyle, "You should stay here."  
"Why?" Kyle asked.

"These people don't know anything about us. They'll probably freak out. You gotta keep them calm," Hal told him.

"Alright, fine," Kyle said.

_Connection established._

Hal closed his eyes and remembered the Nameless Land. The sound, the smell, the feel, and he willed his ring to take him and the other ring bearers there.

Hal and the other Lanterns were blinded by the brilliant golden light of the Nameless Land.

Hal's eyes took a moment to adjust, and when he did, he saw a golden city, Hal was filled with wonder. Not even his first trip to Oa compared to this.

The rest of the group was even more astonished than Hal.

Then, a shrill voice pierced the air, "Uncle Hal!"

Confused, Hal turned, and he was met with the sight of a young girl running towards him. The girl wore a pink nightgown with white stars and moons, had long brown hair and was nine-years-old.

Wait. How did he know that last part?

The girl barreled into Hal and wrapped her arms around his midsection.

Hal stared at the girl for a moment, having no idea who she was until he did. She was Helen Jordan, his brother, Jack's, daughter. Her parents died in a car crash and Hal became her literal guardian angel as the Spectre.

"Helen?" he asked before he bent down and wrapped his arms around her and began to cry.

"Oh, sweetheart, how could I ever forget you?" he wept.

"It's not your fault, Uncle Hal," Helen said.

"How couldn't it be? I was supposed to take care of you and as soon as I became Green Lantern again I literally forgot you existed," Hal said through tears.

"It's not your fault, Mr. Jordan," another voice spoke, "Most mortal minds cannot comprehend experiences as the Spectre. It's a wonder you ever recovered your memories."

Hal turned around and his eyes lit up, "Materna!"

"Hello, it's been quite a while, hasn't it?" Materna asked.

Materna Minxx was Helen's nanny, the woman who took it upon herself to train Helen in the ways of the Risen because of her natural abilities in things Hal could not quite understand.

"Wait… when my soul unmerged with the Spectre, the fortress must have disappeared, it should have taken you with it. How did you escape?"

"Before the whole thing imploded, I was able to transport us to the Nameless Land." Materna said, "So, Mr. Jordan, what brings you here? As sad as I am to say it, it could not be because of Helen. Your reaction is proof of that."

"I'm hunting down some outlaws. They massacred an entire planet," Hal told Materna.

"And how do you know they are Risen?" Materna asked, evidently unhappy that Hal thought a Risen could have committed such an atrocious act.

"I met one of them once, he had the same general feel about him as Risen do," Hal said, conjuring a hologram of the God of Light.

Materna's eyes widened and she whispered, "I thought they were dead."

"So you do know something about them," Watts ascertained.

"Yes… Yes, I do," Materna said, conjuring a book and flipping through a few pages and waving her hand. The lights dimmed and three blobs rose from Materna's book.

The golden blob took the form of the brother that Hal met, the God of Light. The purple blob formed into a featureless man with ram horns, and the third, gray blob contorted into a man with moose antlers.

"Long ago there were three brothers, Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. They were the prodigies of prodigies in the ways of the Risen. Their souls were stronger than most. One day, they grew bored of the Nameless Land. They took our teachings and left," Materna said, as the images changed to the three brothers walking through a portal, into the universe and away from the Nameless Land.

"Unfortunately we lost track of Logos, Pathos, and Ethos eons ago," Materna said.

The lights came back and the images returned to Materna's book.

"Materna, do you mind if I scan you?" Hal asked.

"Why?" Materna wondered.

"Risen all have the same energy. If I can add yours to the ring's database, I might be able to track Logos, Pathos, and Ethos that way," Hal explained

"I suppose," Materna sighed and let the emerald light of Hal's ring wash over her, "Now I will leave you and Helen to catch up."

Materna walked away and Hal looked down at Helen, before asking, "How long have you been here?"

Helen rested her chin between her thumb and index finger, thinking for a moment before saying, "Three years."  
"What?!" Hal asked, ashamed he had missed so much of Helen's life, "But you don't look any older!"

"People don't age in the Nameless Land, Uncle Hal!" Helen said, smiling before she finally took her eyes off her beloved uncle and saw the people behind him, "Who are they, Uncle Hal?"

"Helen, sweetheart, let me introduce you to my friends," Hal said, taking her hand and walking over to the other Lanterns.

"That's Saint Walker, Ruby, Jaune, Nora, Hazel, and Watts."

"Who are those other people?" Helen asked, pointing to the empty air.

"What other people?" Hal said before remembering when he first truly met Helen and she was able to see Abin Sur's spirit, "Do you see a spirit, sweetheart?"

"Mhm! Three of them. They say their names are Gretchen, Pyrrha, and Summer."

Jaune and Hazel ran towards Helen but were held back by green hands Hal constructed.

"Hey, hey, one at a time!" Hal scolded.

Ruby was stuck in stunned silence by the fact that her mother's spirit was watching over her. After breaking the trance she was in, she walked over to Helen and knelt.

"Did you say you saw a spirit named Summer?" Ruby asked gently.

"Yeah," Helen said.

"You can speak to her?" Ruby asked hopefully.

"Mhm," Helen replied.

"What did she say?" Ruby asked.

"She said that she loves you and she's very proud of you," Helen said, acting as the medium for Summer to communicate with Ruby.

"Did Salem kill her?" Ruby asked, fearing the answer.

"Yeah. She did," Helen said, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Ruby said, wiping a tear out of her eye and making room for Jaune to speak to the young girl.

"Alright, you next, kid," Hal said, releasing Jaune.

Jaune approached Helen next, crouched down to her height, and asked, "What does Pyrrha have to say?"

"She says that she loves you, she's sorry for leaving you, she's proud that you've come so far and you have even farther to go, and that you're still too stiff when you fight and she'll be with you forever," Helen recited.

Jaune smiled and walked back to Nora.

"Alright big guy, your turn," Hal stated, dropping Hazel onto the ground and he walked over to Helen.

Hazel looked down at Helen and asked, "What does my sister want to say to me?"

Helen looked slightly beyond Hazel's shoulder before saying, "She hates what's happened to you."

"What?" Hazel whispered.

"She says you've become a monster. You hurt a lot of people for her, and she can't stand seeing it."

"I had to! Ozpin-" Hazel started

"What happened to her wasn't Ozpin's fault," Helen interrupted.

"Then whose fault was it?" Hazel inquired.

"No one's. It was an accident," Helen told him.

"I've spent so long hurting people… everything I've done has been to avenge you…" Hazel trailed off as his red ring glowed a little less brightly.

Hazel wiped his eyes and kneeled to Helen's height and said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Helen said.

"Okay, everyone has done their seances?" Hal asked.

Ruby, Jaune, and Hazel all nodded.

Hal kneeled to Helen and asked, "Helen, can you get Materna back here?"

"Okay!" Helen said brightly, and Materna popped back, much to everyone's surprise.

"How can I help you, Mr. Jordan?" Materna asked.

Hal took a deep breath and said, "Materna… I… I want you to release Helen back into my care. I know I don't deserve her and I'm not the most responsible, but Helen is the most important person in my life… Now that I have her back, I can't lose her again."

Materna smiled a small smile before she said, "I knew you'd come back for her someday, so I prepared myself for it. Helen has gone above and beyond in her training. I couldn't be prouder, but you shouldn't be asking me the question. It's up to Helen."

"I… right," Hal said, before kneeling to Helen and asking, "Helen… I know this is a hard decision but it's one you're going to have to make. Would you like to come live with me again, or stay here with Materna?"

Helen's mouth parted a bit, and she looked between Hal and Materna. Instinctually, she knew her answer, but it was a hard call to make.

Helen walked over to Materna, and Hal's heart broke before healing itself when she threw her arms around Materna and said, "G'bye Materna, I'm gonna miss you."

Materna patted Helen on the shoulder and Helen corrected herself, "Good-bye Miss Minxx, I will miss you."

Smiling warmly, Materna wrapped her arms around Helen and whispered, "I will miss you too. I am so proud of you and your accomplishments."

"I'll see you again, right?" Helen hoped.

"Oh, child, we'll never be apart," Materna told her, handing her a backpack of Helen's possessions.

Helen seemed to understand this better than the others. She simply nodded, wiped her eyes, seemingly determined not to cry, walked over to her uncle and jumped into his arms.

Hal looked to Materna and told her "Thank you for everything you've done for Helen. I'll never forget it."

"It was my pleasure, Mr. Jordan," Materna said, before disappearing.

Helen sniffled a little before turning to Hal and saying, "Can we go now?'

"Yeah. Yeah, let's go," Hal said, willing them back to their native plane of existence. In a flash of jade light, they found themselves back in Ironwood's office, with Kyle behind a barrier and everyone else pointing their weapons at him.

"Listen, I'm telling you they're fine!" Hal heard Kyle shout.

"What's going on here?" Nora asked.

The people who were left behind relaxed and Kyle dropped his shield, "See, I told you they're fine."

"Where did you go?" the black-haired boy in green asked.

"Oh, Ren, it was amazing! I can't describe it but it was awesome! And we met this super cute kid!" Nora gushed, pointing to Helen.

"Wait. Who's that?" Oscar asked, looking at Helen.

"This is my niece, Helen," Hal introduced.

"So you teleported half our group away to find your niece?" the blonde girl asked.

"No. We got a lead on the gods but found my niece while we were there," Hal said.

"So what do you know about them?"  
"Their real names are Logos and Pathos," Hal said.

"All you got were their names?" the white-haired girl asked.

"No. We have their energy signature. We can scan other planets and track them down that way," Hal explained before turning to Jaune and Ruby, "Welp, I think our job here is done. You two need to come with us."

The blonde girl didn't like that, and asked, "What?! Why?!"

"The Blue Lantern Corps must be restored, to do that we must rendezvous with Ganthet and Sayd on Mogo," Saint Walker said.

"Well find someone else!" the blonde girl shouted.

"Yang," Ruby said, putting her hand on the taller girl's shoulder, "It's okay. This is bigger than any one of us. It's bigger than Remnant. It's the whole universe."

"But-" Yang started to argue.

Looking at her ring, Ruby said, "You've seen what these rings can do. Right now, there are only two Blue Lanterns. The universe needs the Blue Lantern Corps."

Yang was silent, clearly mulling over letting Ruby leave.

"Alright. Just come back, okay?" Yang requested.

"I will," Ruby promised.

"Alright, everyone with a ring who wants to see the stars follow me," Hal said.

Helen huffed.

"And Helen," Hal added.

Hazel, Watts, Ruby, and Jaune followed Hal but Nora stayed behind.

"Go," Ren told her.

"But Ren-" Nora started.

"This is a chance you'll never get again, Nora. You have to take it. I'll be here when you get back." Ren interrupted.

Nora pulled Ren into a kiss. Once they parted she said, "I'll be back. I promise."

Nora ran onto the landing pad, where she witnessed a spaceship be built from the ground up by Hal's ring.

Hal climbed up the ladder and into the pilot's seat after helping Helen with her seatbelt.

"Is everyone here?" Hal asked.

A collective "yes" met Hal's ears.

"Alright," Hal said, lifting off and exiting the atmosphere.

"So how long is this going to take?" Nora asked.

"Around twelve hours," Hal replied.

Nora groaned.

"If we travel by realspace. We can go through hyperspace and get there sooner, but you wouldn't see space," Hal told them.

Watts spoke up first, "I think that twelve hours is a reasonable timeframe."  
He was in the minority.

An intense argument sparked until Jaune made a point, "The sooner we get wherever we're going, the sooner we can go anywhere in the universe alone."

Watts huffed and said, "Fine, let's do hyperspace."

"Alright, glad we're all in agreement," Hal said, pushing forward on the throttle, and they traveled into the unknown.

**Thanks to DeltaFell for editing this chapter!**


	3. Assault and Battery

**HYPERSPACE**

The trip through hyperspace, while longer than the trip by realspace, was still a lengthy one, so the Lanterns and Helen were keeping themselves entertained.

The Lanterns from Remnant practiced with their rings, relatively weak constructs emerging from the jewelry.  
Helen took a tiny blue crystalline elephant out of the backpack that Materna had given her and was chasing it around the ship. When Ruby saw the elephant her eyes sparkled and she joined Helen in giving it chase, both of them laughing as the elephant bobbed and weaved between the seats.

Kyle constructed a pencil and a pad of paper and began to draw the two girls and the elephant.

After a few minutes, Helen tired out and called the elephant back to her and stuffed it back into her bag, before pulling out wooden dolls.

"What are those?" Ruby asked, picking up the red one with a lightning bolt on its chest, and a lightning pattern around its waist.

"They're Uncle Hal's friends! Superman made them for me for my birthday!" Helen said, showing her a doll dressed in green with red boots and gloves, a bycocket hat on its head, and a quiver full of arrows on its back.

"Err…" Ruby said, looking back to the man driving the ship.

"They're wooden figurines of my friends," Hal clarified.

"Oh," Ruby said, looking at the red figure in her hand and asking Helen, "Who's this?"

"That's the Flash! He's Uncle Hal's best friend. He runs really fast," Helen explained.

"Who's that?" Ruby asked, pointing to the figurine in Helen's hand.

"Green Arrow. He's Uncle Hal's second best friend. He shoots really good," Helen said.

After explaining to Ruby who the various members of the Justice League were, Helen and Ruby began to use the powers of the JLA to vanquish evil.

Watts gazed out the window, admiring the magnificence of hyperspace when he heard someone ask, "Who are you?"

Looking to his left, Watts saw Helen standing next to him. Helen was also halfway across the room playing with her toys with Ruby at the same time. Watts raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything about it.

"I'm Arthur Watts," he introduced himself.

"My name's Helen," Helen said before she saw his ring, "Are you a Purple Lantern?"

"It's indigo, my dear girl," Watts corrected.

"Oh," Helen said, racking her mind to see if she's ever heard of indigo before saying, "It looks purple."

Instead of correcting the young girl again, Watts deemed to humor her, "It does, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Helen said, reaching up to Watts' forehead and trying to touch the symbol that rested there, but her hand passed through it and touched Watt's forehead.

"Don't touch people without asking them, sweetheart," Hal chided from the front of the ship.

"Sorry, Uncle Hal!" Helen called back.

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to him!" Hal instructed.

"Sorry, Mr. Watts," Helen said.  
"It's quite alright," Watts politely responded.

Having had her fill of conversation with Watts, Helen walked over to Kyle.

Tapping on Kyle's shoulder, Helen asked, "You're Kyle Rayner, right?"

"Yeah, I am," Kyle confirmed.

"Uncle Hal used to talk all about you, and how proud he was of you for "carrying the torch,'" Helen said.

"Is that so?" Kyle asked, looking over at Hal and smirking.

"Yup!" Helen said.

"Nice to know the Divine Spirit of Redemption thought so highly of me," Kyle said, smiling despite already knowing how much Hal respected him.

While Ruby was playing with Helen, she turned around and saw another Helen talking to the other Green Lantern, then looked back to the Helen that was playing with her, and back to the other Helen.

"Helen?" Ruby asked.

The Helen that was playing with Ruby looked up, "Yeah?"

"Is that your Semblance?" Ruby asked, pointing at the Helen talking with Kyle.

"My what?" Helen asked, tilting her head at the unfamiliar word.

"A semblance, it's like a personal superpower. Everyone has one," Ruby explained.

"I dunno, Miss Minxx called it bilocation," Helen said before pretending to make her Aquaman figure hit Ruby's Batman figure.

Hal's voice filled the ship, "We're approaching Mogo, and we'll be there in five, buckle up everyone."  
Helen scrambled around, collecting the wooden figures and stuffing them into her backpack before asking Ruby, "Can I have my Batman back?"

"Oh, sure," Ruby said, handing the young girl the black and gray figurine.

Helen placed the last figure into her backpack and zipped it up, before walking over to the empty seats and sitting down and putting her backpack underneath her seat.

Ruby sat down next to her and buckled in.

"Alright everyone, brace yourselves. Dropping out of hyperspace in three… two… one," Hal said, slowly pulling back on the throttle.

When the spaceship exited hyperspace, the Lanterns saw a blue planet with a green band around it and the Green Lantern symbol in the center.

"Now if you'll look over to your left, you'll see the sentient planet Mogo," Hal said over the loudspeaker, "And if you look to your right, you'll see the vast expanse of empty space. Welcome to Space Sector 0, everyone."

"Did you say sentient planet?" Hazel asked skeptically.

"Mhm," Hal said.

"As in alive and thinking?"

"Yes."

"Can it talk?"

"Yup."

Hal stopped talking and focused on making it to the floating platform where Kyle and Saint Walker tried to restore the Blue Lantern Corps.

Hovering a few meters away from the platform, Hal opened the door and turned to Saint Walker and Ruby, "Alright, this is your stop."

"What?" Ruby asked.

"You gotta train in order to become a full-fledged Blue Lantern, kid. No one is more qualified to teach you than Ganthet or Sayd. They created the Blue Lantern Corps," Hal explained.

Ruby nodded and jumped onto the floating platform with Saint Walker. As Hal took off with the others, Ruby looked around the platform. It was made of stone and there were six spires attached to it, but it was otherwise empty.

Ruby looked around and then to Saint Walker, "So where are Ganthet and Sayd?"

"Right here, young one," a male voice said from behind her.

Ruby jumped and turned around, coming face to face with two aliens. Both couldn't have been more than three and a half feet in stature, both had blue skin and wore brown robes. The male had long white hair tied into a ponytail and the female was bald.

"Do you accept the responsibility bestowed upon you?" the male asked, Ruby assumed he was Ganthet, but being an alien she couldn't be quite sure.

"What?" Ruby asked.

"Do you accept the responsibility bestowed upon you?" the female, who Ruby also assumed to be Sayd, repeated.

"I… I do," Ruby said, standing tall.

Ganthet smiled and said, "Good," before raising his hand and blasting Ruby in the face with blue light.

* * *

Jaune looked out the window in wonder as beings of all shapes and sizes flew through the sky. He looked harder and realized that some were encased in a green glow and others in yellow.

Jaune thought his curiosity peaked when he saw the enormous Green Lantern standing in the square. He was wrong. It rose even higher when he saw Green Lanterns and Yellow Lanterns working together to build what looked like an enormous Yellow Lantern.

Leaning over to him Kyle said, "Looks like you've spotted the Central Power Batteries."

"Central Power Batteries?" Jaune asked.

"It's how the Light is harnessed. The Central Power Batteries is the source of all Lantern's power," Kyle explained.

Jaune nodded.

"Alright, blondie, this is where you get off," Hal told Jaune.

"What?" Jaune asked.

"Green Lanterns need training too. Tell your ring to take you to Lantern Kilowog," Hal ordered Jaune.

Jaune opened the door to the spaceship, but before he jumped out, he turned to Helen and said, "Thank you," before jumping out of the ship and floating to the ground.

Jaune raised his ring and spoke into it, "Find Lantern Kilowog," and before he could react he was zipping around the planet and landed in front of a gargantuan Lantern with a face not unlike a pig's.

"And who th' hell're you?" the Lantern asked.

"Are you Kilowog?" Jaune asked.

"I am," Kilowog confirmed.

"Hal Jordan told me to come find you," Jaune told him.

"Oh really? Why's that?"

"I need training," Jaune replied simply.

Looking down at Jaune's hand, Kilowog corrected him, "No, what you need is a ring."

"I have a ring," Jaune said, showing it to Kilowog.

"No, you need a real ring," Kilowog said, "This one's a construct. If whoever made it loses concentration, you lose your ring."  
"Oh," Jaune said, not fond of the idea of flying through space and losing his only protection from the cold and lack of oxygen.

"Mogo!" Kilowog hollered.

"Yes, Lantern Kilowog?" a voice from everywhere replied.

"Give this newbie a real ring would ya?" Kilowog requested.

"It is done," Mogo said, and a new ring flew to Jaune.

_Jaune Arc of Remnant. You have the ability to overcome great fear. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps._

"I can't believe we have another Earthman Lantern," Kilowog muttered.

Jaune pulled Hal's construct ring off of his finger and slipped on the authentic ring.

"Thanks," Jaune said.

"Shut up, poozer!" Kilowog roared, his demeanor changing immediately, "This is ring slingin' one-oh-one! Or as I like to call it— the worst day a' your worthless life!"

"A day? One day of training?" Jaune asked incredulously.

"One day's all ya need to master the ring!" Kilowog shouted, "Now it looks like you're my only new recruit. Which means you get me all ta yourself."

"Alright…" Jaune said. He was skeptical. How could someone master the most powerful weapon in the universe in a single day? It took him two years to become as proficient a swordsman as he is, and even still he has a long way to go.

Kilowog's shouting snapped Jaune out of his thoughts, "You are training to be a Green Lantern, poozer! You have the most powerful weapon in the universe on your finger, but you're not a god! You bleed and you die! You bleed _green_ and you die for the Corps! Do you understand that, poozer?!"

Jaune nodded, which was clearly the wrong move. Kilowog bent down and got face to face with Jaune.

"I can't hear you!" Kilowog shouted, his rancid breath filling Jaune's nostrils.

"Yes, sir," Jaune said.

"What was that?!" Kilowog roared.

"Yes, sir!" Jaune repeated in a shout.

"Good! Now, the first lesson— flying!"

Kilowog wrapped Jaune in a bubble, pushed off the ground, and shot into space at Mach speeds.

Once they were far enough away from Mogo, Kilowog dispersed Jaune's bubble and Jaune righted himself and stood, looking at Kilowog.

Kilowog pointed at a nearby asteroid field and told Jaune, "You're gonna fly through that asteroid field and try not to crash into an asteroid."

Jaune nodded and flew into the asteroid field. Jaune bobbed and weaved through the asteroid fields, taking tight turns and sharp spins. This was the first time Jaune noticed he wasn't getting sick. Was the ring preventing it?

Jaune foolishly let his thoughts run wild and didn't notice the asteroid until he was inches away. It was all he could do to bring up his arms and activate his Aura.

Jaune smashed through the asteroid and it burst into a hundred pieces. To Jaune's surprise, his Aura didn't take any damage.

"Around, not through!" Kilowog shouted through the ring's comms.

Jaune ignored him and continued through the asteroid field until he emerged on the other side, where he found Kilowog waiting for him.

"Two minutes and fifteen seconds, only one collision," Kilowog said, "Not bad. Now it's time for combat, check your ring's charge.  
"Ring, check power," Jaune commanded.

_Power levels 99.94 percent._

Kilowog blanched, "That can't be right, your ring shoulda lost at least point-one percent charge from that collision, but you only lost point-zero-six."

"I can do math," Jaune shot back, before quickly adding on, "Sir."

"Whatever, follow me," Kilowog barked before he flew back down to Mogo and landed in an arena.

In the arena were yellow robots with yellow swords and shields which whirred to life once Jaune landed.

Jaune's first instinct was to use Crocea Mors against the robots, but he was meant to be training with his ring, so Crocea Mors was left at his side.

Jaune aimed his ring and fired a beam of green light directly into one of the robots' heads but it bounced off. Jaune fired his ring again and he got the same result.

The robots closed in on Jaune and raised their swords. They brought them down but were caught on a slab of metal. Jaune's shield expanded and he drew his sword, decapitating one of the robots, before kicking another down another and stabbing it through the head.

Another robot attacked him and Jaune angled his shield so that the sword slid off and he cut it down the middle.

Jaune spun around and nearly took the head off another robot before his sword was encased in a green bubble.

"What the hell're you doin', poozer?!" Kilowog roared.

"My ring wasn't working. I had to-" Jaune started.

"Of course it wasn't! Yer a rookie!" Kilowog stressed.

"What?" Jaune asked, bewildered.

"Rookie's rings don't work on yellow!" Kilowog shouted.

"Yellow? Why yellow?" Jaune asked.

"It's the color of Fear, kid," Kilowog told him before saying, "I'll let you in on a secret. You're taught that fear is a weakness. To some extent, it is. But the lack of fear is a weakness too. You gotta embrace the fear. Don't block it out, but don't let it control you. Only then will you be able to use your ring to its full potential."

"Embrace it?" Jaune asked, "But aren't Green Lanterns meant to be fearless?"

"No. They're meant to overcome their fear," Kilowog said, "Keep this in mind and try again."

Kilowog's ring reassembled the robots back to working order and they resumed their onslaught on Jaune. This time, Jaune focused his mind, and let the fear creep in. The fear that he'll still fail. The fear that no matter how powerful he is now, he won't be strong enough to protect his friends. Jaune combined his Fear and Willpower, and let loose blasts on each robot, turning them into golden scrap metal.

Turning to Kilowog, Jaune asked, "What now?"

"Now we test your construct durability," Kilowog answered.

"Against what?" Jaune inquired.

Kilowog slammed his fist into his open palm and cracked his knuckles, "Me."

"So what are the rules?" Jaune asked.

"Your constructs gotta survive ten shots from me," Kilowog revealed.

Jaune nodded and prepared a green shield in front of him.

Kilowog blew air out of his nose and charged, his enormous stature shaking the ground they stood on. Kilowog came close to Jaune and leaped in the air, a spiked green fist surrounding his own. Gravity reclaimed hold of Kilowog and he came crashing down onto Jaune's shield, which was torn open like paper as Jaune was knocked back.

"Damn," Jaune said as he lay in an all too familiar position. Flat on his back and looking at the sky.

"Get up, poozer, we still got work to do," Kilowog told him.

Jaune jumped to his feet, focused his Willpower and prepared another shield.

Kilowog charged once more, landing an enhanced punch on Jaune's shield which cracked and he was sent skidding back. Kilowog closed the gap faster than Jaune expected and landed a kick onto the shield, which cracked even more, before finishing off Jaune's construct with a headbutt.

Jaune stumbled back but didn't fall this time, and once more prepared a shield. While Kilowog repeated his moves. Each time Jaune's shield got a little harder to break, but each time it was broken.

Forty minutes later, Jaune was thrown back, sweating and panting. His shield had just withstood nine blows from Kilowog, who no doubt was holding back.

Jaune struggled to his feet for what he was determined to be the final time. A circular shield with half-circle indents and ornate swirl engravings appeared on Jaune's arm.

Jaune faltered. It was Akoúo̱.

Kilowog charged.

Jaune didn't have time to think about why Akoúo̱ had appeared on his arm and simply focused his power into the shield and waited for Kilowog's onslaught.

Two punches. A kick. A headbutt. Three more punches. Another headbutt. Jaune fell to the ground, but he maintained Akoúo̱. Another kick. A final punch.

When Kilowog quit his assault, Akoúo̱ was cracked in many different places but it still kept its shape.  
Jaune had passed the test.

Kilowog extended his large, four-fingered hand and Jaune accepted it. Kilowog pulled him up like he weighed less than a feather.

"Good job, kid. You've completed basic training. Now we're going to educate you on some of the ring's finer functions," Kilowog told him.

Jaune nodded, ready to do whatever it took to become a full-fledged Green Lantern.

* * *

Ruby awoke to a red sky. She scrambled to her feet and looked around. She was on the roof of a building in Vale. She looked over the side of the building and saw the Grimm prowling the street, eating away at rotting corpses. As horrible as it was, Ruby had to force herself to not feel anything. The Grimm would sense her. She looked on her finger for her ring. It was present, but she couldn't feel any power from it.

Ruby looked around the city for the one singular landmark that could be seen from anywhere in Vale; Beacon Tower. After looking around, she spotted it and immediately knew it was where she must go.

Before Ruby could start on her way, she heard gunfire and explosions. Looking in the direction she had heard the sounds come from, she saw pink smoke rising into the air.

Only one person used pink smoke.

Ruby activated her Semblance and dashed over the gaps in buildings, avoiding the Grimm infested streets. Ruby jumped from building to building until she landed on a loose section on the roof and she spilled onto the street along with a ton of rubble.

As Ruby fell, she saw the stone about to land on top of her and activated her Semblance, splitting into three and dashing around the rocks until she got above them and deactivated her Semblance, landing on top of the pile.

The Grimm heard the rubble crash to the street and looked over to the source of the noise, but saw nothing as Ruby hid behind the stone.

After a few moments, Ruby sprinted across the street and closer towards Nora. The sounds of violence rang louder in Ruby's ears as she moved closer.

Ruby rounded the corner and spotted Nora and Ren engaged in mortal combat with Grimm. Nora focused on the Beringels Ren shot Beowolfs.

Then, in a flash of black, Ren was snatched from the ground by a Griffon and ate whole, just like Roman was.

Nora didn't say anything, she only watched in horror before she charged the Griffon, screaming bloody murder.

During this whole ordeal, Ruby realized she was stuck in place. She tried to run into the fray and help, but she couldn't.

Nora swung Magnhild upside the head of the Griffon, before pulling the trigger on the shaft and launching a grenade into the Griffon's head, obliterating it.

While she avenged her childhood friend, Nora was unaware of the Beowolf behind her until it pounced and dug its claws into her stomach.

Only now did Ruby find the power to move, and in a flash, she activated Crescent Rose and cut the Beowolf in half.

It was too late. Ruby knew it, and so did Nora.

Ruby knelt next to Nora and put her hands on Nora's wounds and tried to stem the bleeding, but the blood just flowed around her hands.

"Y-y-you. Should h-have. Been here. S-sooner," Nora stuttered in between breaths.

It was then that Ruby remembered the capabilities of her ring, and she took her hands off of Nora's wounds and pointed the blue power ring at the dying girl. Ruby thought and hoped harder than she ever had in her life that the blue accessory would light up and begin healing Nora, but it never happened.

Nora's breathing stopped and her head fell to the side, eyes staring at nothing.

"No… no no no!" Ruby shouted, protesting against fate for letting this happen.

Ruby buried her face in her blood-soaked hands and wept. She had failed. Once again, she wasn't fast enough, and two more members of Team JNPR were dead.

Through Ruby's blurred vision she could see something written on the ground in blood.

Wiping her eyes, Ruby's vision focused and she could read it clearly.

_In fearful day, in raging night._

What did that mean? Did Nora write that?

It didn't matter. Ruby had to get to Beacon Tower.

She didn't know how, but she could set things right if she got there. She had hope.

Ruby closed Nora's eyes before standing up and setting off to Beacon Tower.

Ruby knew she couldn't mourn for Nora or Ren, lest the Grimm come for her, but it felt wrong not to. So she marched on and ignored the negative emotions trying to claw their way into her heart.

Ruby walked for miles before she heard the roars of more Grimm. Ruby raced to the source, determined not to let the next person die.

Ruby neared the battle and things came into focus. A blur danced around the Grimm and cut them into ribbons.

It was Qrow.

He was a whirlwind of death and destruction for a righteous cause. Ruby tried to join in and help him, but she once again found herself frozen. Qrow was being pelted by Ravagers. A single slice didn't hurt but a hundred of them chipped away at Aura like the SDC at a vein of Dust.

The Ravagers were small, but Qrow was precise and he cut down most that were foolish enough to come near. It looked like Qrow was winning, but that all changed when a Ravager strayed from the colony and let out its sonic scream. Qrow fell to the ground, his hands over his ears, but that didn't help one bit.

The other Ravagers saw the veteran Huntsman was disabled and copied the first Ravager.

A hundred sonic screams bombarded Qrow. He didn't stand a chance. The man squirmed and tightened his grip over his ears until he fell still, blood leaking from underneath his hands.

Ruby's Silver Eyes ignited and the Ravagers were turned to stone.

Ruby once again found it in her to move and she ran over to Qrow and checked his pulse.

There was nothing.

Blood was leaking out of Qrow's ears, and more words were formed by the blood.

_With strong hearts full._

What did these words mean? Why are they being formed by her friends' blood?

It didn't matter. Ruby had to get to Beacon Tower.

She didn't know how, but she could set things right if she got there. She had hope.

Ruby trekked through Vale, her heart heavier in her chest, she saw a few Grimm but she didn't bother killing them. She once more heard the sounds of combat. Ruby ran to the source of the noise. She knew what was going to happen, but she felt compelled to try to help anyway.

She rounded a corner and saw Blake and Yang fighting a massive hunk of stone. Ruby immediately saw the mask in the center. It was a Geist.

Blake tossed Yang Gambol Shroud and threw Yang at the Geist's face, but its massive arm blocked Yang's attack and smashed her into the ground, shattering her Aura.

"No!" Blake screamed before the Geist launched a rock at her, which she dodged with a Shadow Clone.

The Geist continuously launched rocks at Blake, who dodged each with her Semblance.

Blake eventually exhausted her Aura and could no longer dodge, which was when the Geist launched the final rock and launched Blake backward, crushing her between a nearby wall and the rock.

Ruby once again only found the will to move too late.

She rushed over to Yang and pushed the rock off of her. She nearly vomited at the sight. Yang's limbs bent at odd angles and her ribcage was crushed.

Ruby didn't need to check if her sister was already dead. She looked in the blood and wasn't surprised to find more words.

_Our souls ignite._

Ruby ingrained the words into her mind and rushed over to Blake.

Blake was lying on her front. Ruby turned her over and Blake looked Ruby in the eyes and told her, "You weren't fast enough."

"No! I tried but I couldn't-" Ruby started to say, but Blake passed away before she could finish.

More words found form in Blake's blood.

_When all seems lost._

All did seem lost.

It didn't matter. Ruby had to get to Beacon Tower.

She didn't know how, but she could set things right if she got there. She had hope.

Ruby made it to the cliff of Beacon's campus and activated her Semblance, shooting up the cliff, then popped out of her Semblance when she began to lose altitude and drew Crescent Rose and stuck it into the cliff face.

Ruby repeated this process until she nearly reached the top, where she heard more roars and the sound of metal cutting flesh.

Ruby shot up the side of the cliff and saw Weiss combatting various Grimm. Weiss used her glyphs to fling Grimm around and zip around the battlefield and shooting Dust from Myrtenaster.

Weiss was actually doing fairly well thanks to her Semblance. Not a single Grimm held a candle to her.

That all changed when the Deathstalker showed up.

Weiss spun the chamber in Myrtenaster multiple times before she flipped it open and frantically tried to reload the Dust chambers.

The Deathstalker neared and Weiss decided to make do with the half-full Myrtenaster.

She created a line of Glyphs in front of her and dashed forward at blinding speed. Weiss prepared a strike on the Deathstalker's eyes but was caught in its pincers.

Weiss was raised up while struggling. Desperately trying to escape the monster's hold before the stinger shot forward and impaled Weiss through the stomach.

Ruby's eyes glowed and everything went white. When the light died all the Grimm in the area were turned to stone.

Ruby ran over to Weiss and saw the girl hanging limply from the stone stinger.

"Weiss?" Ruby asked, praying that the girl was still alive.

Weiss' neck turned in Ruby's direction and she muttered, "Why didn't you help me?"

Weiss' last breath left shakily.

Predictably, the blood dripping from Weiss' body formed the next set of words.

_In the War of Light._

War of Light? What was the War of Light?

It didn't matter. Ruby had to get to Beacon Tower.

She didn't know how, but she could set things right if she got there. She had hope.

Ruby walked over to Beacon Tower and entered the lobby.

It was sweltering.

Jaune and Cinder were locked in combat, neither side giving any ground.

Jaune's Aura was continuously glowing. He was boosting himself with his Semblance.

Cinder was launching beam of fire after beam of fire at Jaune, who either blocked it or moved out of the way. Jaune moved in close, too close for Cinder to use her ranged attacks effectively, so she summoned her fire sword and began to trade blows with Jaune.

Jaune had improved as a swordsman, perhaps even above Cinder, but no skill with a sword could match the power of a Maiden.

Jaune used his sword to shove Cinder's to the ground. He thought he had the upper hand until Cinder's hand left her sword, grabbed his face, and lit on fire.

Cinder held onto Jaune's face even after his Aura broke. Jaune's screams of pain filled the air.

By the time Ruby could move she knew it was too late, but she looked through Crescent Rose's scope and pulled the trigger anyway, and Cinder's brain splattered against the wall.

Ruby was running towards Jaune before Cinder even hit the ground.

Jaune was rolling on the ground, his hands were covering his face.

Ruby knelt down next to him and carefully removed his hands from his face.

Ruby's stomach turned. Jaune's skin was completely burned away and his eyes had melted.

"Jaune?" Ruby asked.

"Ruby? I… I can't see," Jaune whispered, "Is Cinder dead?"

"Y-yeah, she's dead," Ruby told him.

"Good… good…," Jaune said, before taking a final shuddering breath, and went limp.

Ruby sniffled and wiped her eyes. This was taking a toll on her.

It didn't matter. Ruby had to get to the top of Beacon Tower.

She didn't know how, but she could set things right if she got there. She had hope.

Ruby looked in Jaune's pool of blood for the next clue.

_Look to the stars._

Ruby stood up and looked for the stairwell. She walked around the tower for a bit before finding it and running up.

As Ruby neared the top, the stairs began to shake and dust rained on top of her. Continuing on her way, she heard explosions and clashes. Getting to the top, she pushed the door to Ozpin's office open and her head was nearly taken off by a shard of ice. Ruby tried to move farther in, but once more found herself frozen in place.

Oscar was fighting Salem. He poked and jabbed his cane against her body, but she hardly noticed. A blast of fire sent Oscar reeling back, and Salem formed hundreds of ice shards to shoot and Oscar, who blocked a few, but most got through his defenses until his Aura broke.

Salem approached him, and said, "You know you can't win. Yet you've tried again, and again, and again. Why?"

"Because no one else can," Ozpin said.

Salem huffed and gripped his body with magic, contorting it into positions no living thing should be in, before ripping him limb from limb.

Ruby couldn't look at the sight before her, so she sought something else to focus on. Which happened to be a Blue Lantern on the edge of the room. Ruby knew that the Blue Lantern was what she had been seeking this whole time.

Ruby drew Crescent Rose and stepped into the room, looking into the pool of blood where Oscar's dismembered corpse lay.

_For Hope burns bright._

Ruby confronted Salem, whose smile didn't quite reach her dead, black eyes.

"Do you truly think you stand a chance?" Salem taunted, "Your friends are dead. Just as you are about to be."

Ruby used her Semblance to dash around Salem and grab the Blue Lantern. A wave of fire flew at Ruby, but she ducked under it and frantically examined the Blue Lantern. There was a tiny port inside of it, just big enough for the ring she was wearing on her finger.

Ruby shoved her ring into the port but nothing happened. She jammed the ring in again and again to no avail.

Salem threw ice, fire, and lightning at Ruby, and she flipped and turned to evade it, but her cape was scorched.

Ruby put the Blue Lantern on her belt and charged Salem, preparing to cut her down to size.

Salem lazily flicked her hand and Ruby flew off the side of the tower.

As Ruby fell, she remembered the words she found in the blood. They had to mean something. Ruby was about to die and she didn't have any better ideas, so she took the Lantern off of her belt and replaced her ring inside the port, but this time she recited the words.

"In fearful day, in raging night, with strong hearts full, our souls ignite, when all seems lost in the War of Light, look to the stars— for Hope burns bright!" Ruby recited frantically.

As the ground neared, the world turned Blue.

Ruby awoke on the floating platform screaming. Once she calmed down enough to speak, she turned to Ganthet, and asked, "What did you do to me?"

"I put you in a hopeless situation. You maintained Hope. You are a worthy Blue Lantern," Ganthet explained.

"No! No, you can't just do that to people!" Ruby shouted, tears in her eyes.

"It was a necessary evil," Sayd told her, "We are truly sorry for putting you through that pain, but it has only made you stronger."  
"The first phase of your training is complete, Sister Rose. We will continue tomorrow."

"No! You're not doing that to me again!" Ruby shouted, before flying off in a bolt of blue.

Ruby streaked through the skies of Mogo, pushing down the tears that were fighting to leave her eyes. She had just noticed that it was nighttime. She must have been out for hours.

"F-find Jaune Arc," Ruby sobbed to her ring.

_Searching… Jaune Arc located. _

Ruby's ring displayed a map with a dot and an arrow on it, the arrow was moving fast so it must have been her, meaning the dot was Jaune.

Ruby followed the map to a building. She landed and ran the rest of the way. Running through the halls, Ruby stopped when she came to a door labeled '3613'.

Ruby frantically knocked on the door, not stopping until it opened to reveal a sleepy but aggravated Jaune, who's anger dissolved when he saw the state Ruby was in.

Ruby forced herself into Jaune's arms and wrapped her own around him.

"Ruby, what's going on?" Jaune asked.

"It doesn't matter," Ruby cried, "Just promise me you won't go anywhere."

"What's going on?" Jaune repeated

"Shut up and hold me," Ruby said through the tears, finding solace in his arms.

Eventually Ruby stopped crying, and the two of them got into bed together. Ruby fell asleep in Jaune's arms and thanked whatever was out there that she had no nightmares.

**Thanks to DeltaFell for editing this chapter!**


	4. Big Brother is Here

"Alright Blondie, this is where you get off," Hal told Jaune.

"What?" Jaune asked.

"Green Lanterns need training too. Tell your ring to take you to Lantern Kilowog," Hal ordered Jaune.

Jaune opened the door, turned to Helen and said, "Thank you," before jumping out of the ship.

"You're welcome!" Helen called after him.

Hal pushed forward on the accelerator and flew over to an empty field, where Kyle stood up and pointed at the three remaining Remnant Lanterns and said, "You three! You're with me."

Kyle exited the ship and beckoned the other Lanterns to do the same.

Once they were on the ground, and Hal flew back towards the city, Watts spoke up.

"What are we doing here?" Watts asked.

"I'm training you three," Kyle revealed.

"What makes you qualified?" Hazel inquired.

"Up until about a day ago, I used to be the White Lantern," Kyle told them.

"What does that mean?" Nora pressed.

"White is made up of all colors of the spectrum. If he was the White Lantern, I'd assume he was able to wear all the rings," Watts told Nora.

"Not just wear them, master their power," Kyle corrected.

"So how are you going to train us?" Hazel questioned.

"Like this!" Kyle said, constructing a large fist and hitting Hazel with it.

Kyle sent Hazel flying through the air and into a tree, which snapped in half when he made contact with it.

Hazel got up and dusted himself off. He crouched down and pushed off the ground, flying at Kyle head-on, who simply constructed a barrier that Hazel smashed straight into, crumpling to the ground.

"Man, no wonder your sister died if you're this pathetic," Kyle taunted.

On the outside, Kyle was smug, but on the inside, he churned with disgust at himself for what he said.

Hazel looked up with wild eyes and roared, "What did you just say!?"

Hazel's eyes glowed red and his ring burned bright. He charged at Kyle once more and punched, only to be stopped by a hand that Kyle constructed. Kyle constructed another hand and flicked Hazel away.

"C'mon man, focus!" Kyle shouted.

Hazel charged again and swung at Kyle, who ducked and dodged each time.

"Focus your anger," Kyle said,

Hazel stood across from Kyle, his shoulders rising and falling with each breath as he heaved angrily.

"Focus," Kyle repeated.

Hazel's ring began to spark.

"Focus," Kyle said again.

Hazel roared and a claw shot out of his ring, grabbing Kyle and throwing him to the ground.

Hazel jumped on top of Kyle and began pounding away at him, but Kyle constructed a bubble, making Hazel's blows ineffective.

"Are you done?" Kyle asked from inside the bubble.

Hazel panted, blood flying out of his mouth and burning the ground, "Yeah, I'm done."

Kyle got up and told Hazel, "Look, man, I'm sorry for what I said about your sister, but I needed to get you mad."

"It's fine," Hazel grunted.

"You did good," Kyle reassured, "Alright, next up!"

* * *

Hal deconstructed the ship and encased Helen in a green aura, pulling her behind him through the skies of Mogo. Hal flew into the control room with Helen in tow and found John.

"Hey John, what'd I miss while I was away?" Hal asked casually.

"Not much," John replied without turning to look at Hal.

At that moment, Salaak decided to take his long, angular head out of the monitors and spotted Helen.

"Lantern Jordan, what is the meaning of this?" Salaak asked, pointing one of his four hands at Helen.

"What's the meaning of wha-?" John said, turning around before spotting Helen, "Hal. Who is that?"

"This is my niece," Hal replied as if he weren't breaking multiple regulations.

"Doesn't she belong home with Jim and Susan?" John asked inquisitively.

"Other niece," Hal said again as if he wasn't breaking any rules.

"Jack had a kid?" John asked.

"Yeah… he did," Hal said sadly, wishing he hadn't abided by Helen's wishes and simply teleported her home. If he had, Jack and Jan wouldn't have been out in the rain looking for Helen. They wouldn't have been in that car crash.

"So why isn't she with Jim and Susan? I hate to break it to you Hal, but you aren't quite equipped to be taking care of a kid. You have responsibilities to the entire universe."

"John, please, I promised I'd never make her leave," Hal pleaded.

"We can't have a kid running around Green Lantern HQ," John sighed.

"Please, John," Hal begged.

John saw how desperate Hal was.

"This is really important to you, isn't it?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Hal said.

John sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't believe what he was about to say.

"Fine, but she is your responsibility, do you understand?" John asked as if he were talking about a dog.

"I understand," Hal said seriously before smiling and saying, "Thank you."

Hal took Helen's hand and led her to where they'd be staying together.

**MOGO, THE NEXT DAY **

The sun bled through the blinds of Jaune's quarters and somehow struck him right in the eyes, causing him to stir. He opened his eyes and was surprised to find a certain blue bundle in his arms.

Jaune suddenly remembered how Ruby came to be in his arms, and how distraught she had been. Jaune was about to close his eyes and go back to sleep when his ring beeped from his bedside table. Duty called. Jaune slowly detangled himself from Ruby, doing his best not to wake her up before starting his morning routine. He found all the essentials already stocked in the bathroom.

Once Jaune finished his routine, he donned his combat attire, slipped his ring on and donned his Green Lantern uniform, his badge shining proudly on his chest and shoulder pads. Jaune made most of the way to the door when someone called his name.

Jaune turned around to see Ruby leaning up on her arms on the bed.

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked through a yawn.

"Patrol," Jaune said simply before asking Ruby, "Ruby, what was that last night?"

Ruby looked away and said, "It was nothing."

Jaune sat down on the bed, put his hand on Ruby's shoulder and said, "You know you can come to me for anything, right?"

Ruby's lip trembled and she clearly fought back tears before she explained what had happened the previous day.

"Ganthet and Sayd… they put me in a trance or something, and we were in Vale. You were all fighting Grimm and I couldn't do anything to help. You died one by one and you said it was my fault," Ruby said, breaking into tears at the end.

"Why would they do that to you?" Jaune asked, horrified.

"They said I had to keep Hope in a hopeless situation, and that because I did I was a worthy Blue Lantern," Ruby recalled.

Jaune stayed silent for a moment before he got up and asked Ruby, "What do you want to do?"

Ruby took a deep breath and said, "I want to be a Blue Lantern. I want to complete my training and help people on a wider scale than I ever imagined."

Jaune smiled, embraced her briefly but tightly and said, "I knew you'd say something like that."

Jaune exited the room and Ruby followed, the two parting ways when they left the building, Jaune on course for Remnant, and Ruby heading to her second day of training.

Jaune left Mogo's atmosphere and opened a wormhole, which after a few minutes, spit him out into Sector 3613.

Jaune admired Remnant from the outside looking in. His home had never seemed so small until he realized how big the universe really was.

Jaune held his ring up to his mouth and said, "Ring, patch into emergency comm systems."

Dozens of distress signals bombarded Jaune all at once. Too many to sort out on his own.

"Ring, sort distress signals by urgency," Jaune ordered.

Jaune found a signal coming from Vacuo. A settlement needed his help. The ring closed in on it and Jaune flew off.

Jaune entered the atmosphere over top the small Vacuan town that was being attacked by Grimm. Jaune assumed the death of Salem would disorganize the Grimm, but it was also possible that Salem kept them in check, and with her gone, they would run rampant. Too many for Huntsmen to handle, but not enough to challenge a Green Lantern.

Jaune closed in on the town and spotted the black and white masses. Jaune saw for certain a few Goliaths in the bunch. He also saw bullets flying out of the fortifications, cutting down some Grimm before they could make it to the walls of the town.

Jaune was determined to not let any make it to the walls. He constructed a bomb and dropped it in the middle of the horde. After a moment, the bomb went off and disintegrated a large portion of the Grimm in a sphere of green light.

Jaune flew lower and crashed through another section of Grimm, cutting each into ribbons.

Circling around to the front of the horde, Jaune fired a single shot that twisted, curved, and spun through each Grimm, leaving a trail of green light until they were no more.

A roar from behind alerted Jaune and he turned around, an Ursa was on top of him, about to bring its paws down on top of Jaune.

Jaune flicked his arm up, but before he could fire off a shot from his ring, a sword poked through the Ursa's chest, which slumped over and revealed Yatsuhashi Daichi and Team CFVY.

Jaune made eye contact with them and said "Hi."

"Jaune Arc?" Coco whispered astonishedly.

Jaune quickly willed a mask like Hal's to cover his face.

"Who?" Jaune asked, feigning ignorance.

"Don't play dumb, kid, we saw your face," Coco snarked.

Jaune willed the mask to disappear from his face, "Hey guys."

"Jaune Arc? What's he doing here? Where'd all the Grimm go?" Fox asked.

"I think he killed 'em all," Coco said.

"Jaune Arc killed that many Grimm? No offense or anything, but no way," Fox said.

"That doesn't hurt my pride or anything," Jaune muttered sarcastically.

"How did you do that anyway?" Velvet asked.

Jaune deemed it wouldn't be a big deal if told the truth, so he did.

"I used this," Jaune said, showing off his Power Ring.

"Funny joke, how'd you do it?" Coco asked.

Jaune pointed his ring down into the sand and let off a blast.

CFVY jumped back, and when they looked down, they saw that the ring blast had cooked the sand into glass.

"How in the hell did you get that?" Coco asked.

"Someone gave it to me," Jaune replied.

"Someone just… gave that to you? Why?" Yatsu asked.

"They deemed me worthy or something," Jaune said.

"How expensive do you think it is to use?" Fox asked Velvet.

"Probably makes Anesidora look like a kid's allowance," Velvet responded.

"It actually doesn't cost anything. It doesn't utilize Dust. Apparently it draws power from a fundamental element of the universe," Jaune said, explaining what he understood of that part of his training before adding, "Oh yeah, it's made by aliens."

"This is too much," Coco muttered, holding her head.

Jaune's ring beeped and he was reminded of other emergencies on Remnant.

"Sorry, guys, gotta go!" Jaune said, taking off in a bolt of green.

Jaune spent the rest of the day rescuing people and killing Grimm. Once he thwarted another attack on Mantle, he found a distress call coming from Atlas.

Something about a prison riot. Jaune took off towards the source and found the prison.

Slipping through the molecules making up the walls, Jaune was met with pandemonium in the cell blocks.

Prisoners were beating on guards, and guards were shooting prisoners.

Jaune created dozens of claws and they snatched up each inmate and flung them into their cells.

Jaune flew through the various cell blocks and repeated this process multiple times.

Once he finished, he landed on the ground and helped a few guards to their feet.

As Jaune was doing that, he heard the sound of someone running from behind him. Turning around, Jaune saw a one-armed inmate running for freedom.

"Where are you go-" Jaune started saying, grabbing and then flying in front of the would-be escapee until he saw their face.

It was Cinder.

Jaune's mind immediately went to a dark place. He had her within his grasp. He was more powerful than she ever was.

He could kill her in any of a million painful ways. He could tear her up from the inside out, cut off her airways. He could do anything.

That was the devil on his shoulder talking. It wanted revenge.

The angel on his opposite shoulder wanted justice. Killing her like this would not be justice.

The angel told him he could wait for her trial and watch her be executed for her crimes.

The devil wouldn't be satisfied unless he did it himself.

Jaune realized that he had been subconsciously willing his ring to slowly tighten its hold around Cinder. She was blue by the time he realized it and as soon as he did realize it, she dropped her to the floor.

Cinder fell on all three of her limbs and gasped, trying to steal her breath back.

Once the blue left Cinder's face, Jaune kicked her in the face, knocking her out.

Jaune was shaken. Upset that he had come so close to casually murdering someone, no matter how much she deserved it.

Jaune slowly rose into the air, before turning intangible and flying through the roof of the prison.

Jaune was flying towards Atlas Academy when he realized that he could be anywhere on Remnant in seconds, and there was one place he had not been in two years.

Jaune turned around and flew south towards Vale. He crossed the ocean and dove low, he could see his reflection in the water. He rose up higher when he reached the city of Vale, but did not stop there. He flew over the city and continued south.

Soon, he reached the small town of Rouen on the southern edge of Vale.

He flew down the familiar streets and passed his favorite shops, reminiscing about childhood memories.

Jaune glided through the residential area and stopped in front of a familiar house. Putting his feet on the ground, Jaune walked up to the door and almost knocked before he realized he still wore his ring.

Jaune quickly slipped off the ring, put it in his pocket, and took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

Jaune heard footsteps approaching.

Joan Arc answered the door.

"Hi, Mom," Jaune said.

**MOGO, SECTOR 0**

Ruby flew up to the floating platform where she trained the day before, Ganthet, Sayd, and Saint Walker were waiting. Ruby landed and warily eyed the three of them.

Sayd smiled softly and said, "I am glad you have decided to continue your training, child."

Ruby didn't say anything.

Ganthet motioned to the mats on the floor and told Ruby, "Sit."

Ruby sat and asked, "What are you gonna do to me today?"

"We are going to educate you," Ganthet said.

"Am I going to learn how to use the ring?" Ruby asked, showing only slight earnestness.

"No. We are going to teach you about the Ideal of Hope," Sayd replied.

Ruby groaned.

Ganthet ignored her and said, "Every concept has an ideal version of itself. A version we cannot ever see or meet, but we know is there. There is an ideal weapon, for example. It has all the traits of a weapon and we recognize it as a weapon, but we can never create the ideal weapon. Only mimic it. Just like there is an ideal weapon, there is an ideal form of Hope. A form we fundamentally know exists, but can never truly obtain. We can only do our best to make it the best it can possibly be."  
Ganthet continued on, talking about and explaining things Ruby couldn't pretend to understand. After what felt like hours of this, Ruby's ring buzzed. She looked at the ring, then at Ganthet, who nodded.

"Ruby here," Ruby answered.

"Hey, kid," Hal said, "Meet me in the Control Room."  
"Uhh," Ruby hummed, looking over to Ganthet, who nodded before saying, "Yeah, I'll be right over."

Ruby stood up and flew off to the Control Room where Kyle, Saint Walker, Nora, Watts, and Hazel were already gathered waiting for Hal.

There was an awkward silence that hung heavily upon the group, so Ruby tried to break the ice, "So, Nora, how'd your training go?"

"It was great!" Nora replied before asking, "How was yours?"

"Eh. Mostly philosophical lecturing," Ruby answered, seeming disappointed in her training.

"So what are we doing here? Hal told us to meet here, but Hal's not even here," Watts stated.

"He'll be here," Kyle said.

A few minutes of stilted conversation later, the doors opened and Hal walked in, Helen not far behind, who had switched out her pink nightgown for a Green Lantern t-shirt and blue jeans.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," Hal said.

"What kept you?" Hazel grunted.

"I found a few white hairs so I went to get scanned," Hal said.

Kyle stiffened.

"You're getting old so you went for a check-up?" Watts snarked.

"For an Indigo, you're awfully snarky," Hal sniped back.

"It's in my nature," Watts said.

"And Indigo rings change peoples' nature," Hal responded.

"So why did some white hair warrant a medical scan?" Watts asked, changing the subject.

Hal sighed and said, "White hair is the sign of an entity."  
"Entity?" Ruby interjected.

"Each part of the Emotional Spectrum has an entity to represent it. Ion for Will, Adara, for Hope, Butcher for Rage, Predator for Love, Ophidian for Avarice, Proselyte for Compassion, and… and Parallax for Fear," Hal explained, saying the last part quieter.

"You were afraid that one of these entities had done something to you?" Nora asked.

"Hey, I'm not afraid of anything," Hal said defensively.

"Sheesh, sorry," Nora muttered.

"Entities are more powerful with a host, and when I went white the first time, I thought I was just getting old… that wasn't the case. Parallax took roost in me. He used my body to destroy the Green Lantern Corps, tried to kill my friends, and nearly destroyed the universe," Hal said ashamedly. He knew the atrocities Parallax committed weren't on his shoulders, but he felt the guilt anyway.

"I'm sorry that happened to you, I truly am," Watts started, no amount of sarcasm detectable in his voice.

"So why are we here?" Hazel asked.

"We're going to track down your gods," Hal revealed, walking over to a console.

"How do you plan to do that?" Watts wondered.

Hal inserted his ring into a port on the console and transferred the energy signature of the Risen to the Corps' database.

"I scanned Materna when we were in the Nameless Land. Her energy signature should be similar to your gods'. The Corps has scanning devices set up in every sector we have jurisdiction in. If the gods are in or have been in any of the sectors, we should get a hit," Hal explained before activating the scanners.

Immediately, blips appeared all over the map of the universe.

"Sort by most recent," Hal ordered.

A blip in Sector 2828 lit up.

"Crap," Hal muttered.

"What's wrong?" Helen asked.

"The most recent appearance is in the Vega System."

Kyle hissed.

"What's the Vega System?" Helen asked.

"A wretched hive of scum and villainy. Worse than anywhere in the universe," Kyle said, "The Green Lantern Corps didn't have jurisdiction there until very recently, and the lack of Green Lanterns made it a nesting ground for criminal syndicates."

"That sounds bad," Helen said.

"It is, sweetheart," Hal told her.

"What's the kid doing here anyway?" Hazel asked.

"Helen lived with the Risen for three years. I thought she may be useful," Hal said, "But that was before we were going to Vega. Helen, you're sitting this one out."

"But Uncle Hallllll," Helen whined.

"No buts," Hal said sternly, "Go find Kilowog or John. I'm sure they'll keep you company."

"Fine," Helen huffed, stomping off while muttering under her breath.

Hal watched Helen leave the control room before he turned to the group of mostly rookie Lanterns and motioned for them to follow Hal outside.

The group came upon a large empty area and Hal constructed another spaceship, and motioned for everyone to board.

One by one, they entered the ship and strapped in.

Nora buckled in before asking, "What about Jaune?"

"Kid's got his own beat to take care of now," Hal responded, piloting the ship off of Mogo and slipping into Hyperspace.

**ROUEN, REMNANT, SECTOR 3613**

Joan Arc covered her mouth. She almost could not believe her eyes. Her son was standing on her doorstep. The same son that left for Beacon two years ago and never returned. The son she thought had perished when Beacon fell. He was standing right in front of her and was none the worse for wear.

She stepped out into the night, lit only by the porchlight and reached out to her son, who took her hand in his own.

Joan slowly wrapped her arms around Jaune and leaned into him. They stood like this for a moment until Jaune wrapped his arms around her as well. After a few more moments, Joan pulled away and looked him in his eyes.

Then the anger hit.

"Where have you been?!" She screeched.

Jaune flinched, not wanting to fall victim to his mother's wrath. He may be a Green Lantern, but even he knew to beware the power of an angry parent.

"I've been around," Jaune said.

"Around where?" Joan asked coldly.

Jaune murmured under his breath.

"What was that?" Joan asked.

"Anima, Mistral, Argus, Mantle, and Atlas," Jaune said sheepishly.

"And never once until now did you think to visit home? To even write and let us know you were okay?" Joan asked.

"I… I had other things on my mind, Mom," Jaune said.

"Mom? Who's at the door?" another voice called from inside the house.

"Someone you'll want to see!" Joan called back before asking Jaune, "Why don't you come inside?"

"Yeah, yeah sure," Jaune said, stepping inside his home for the first time in two years.

It was no different than he remembered it.

Jaune began reminiscing about old times but was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of feet stomping down the stairs.

Jaune turned to the staircase and saw one of his sisters barreling towards him.

She crashed into Jaune's chest face first and was met with a face full of metal.

"Owwww," She whined, holding her nose.

"Hey Scout," Jaune laughed.

"Hey Jaune," She said, voice muffled through her hand.

Scout was the third child and was always looking for adventure in her younger days, which usually ended up with her picking fights she either couldn't win or were totally stacked in her favor, which is why it shocked Jaune that she had never trained to be a Huntress. However, she eventually quit her antics and become a responsible, if somewhat immature, adult.

Scout shook off the pain of crashing face-first into a plate of metal and looked up at her little brother.

"We've really missed you Jaune," Scout said softly, embracing her brother.

"I've missed you too," Jaune said back.

Once Scout and Jaune broke apart, Scout looked up the stairway and shouted, "Hey guys! Jaune's back!"

Almost simultaneously, five doors slammed open and five pairs of feet raced down the stairs, each sister, trying to get in front of the other.

Jaune was nearly knocked over by the girls slamming into him one by one.

They were crowding him, each pushing and trying to wrap their arms around him. Jaune was annoyed by it but figured he deserved it for making them think he was dead for so long, so he didn't push any of them off.

After a happy reunion, the family sat in the living room, swapping stories about what had happened in the two years since Jaune had left home.

"And the Nuckelavee charged, and I stopped it dead in its tracks!" Jaune regaled. He was about to continue the story when he heard a faint sound coming from upstairs.

"What was that?" Jaune asked, leaving his spot on the couch and making his way upstairs.

Jaune's family followed him to a door at the end of the hallway. A door that hadn't been there when he left.

He gripped the doorknob and slowly turned it before pushing the door open.

He heard the noise loud and clear now. It was crying. Jaune flipped the switch on the wall and the room lit up, revealing the crying was coming from a crib in the corner.

Jaune approached the crib and looked into it.

Inside lay a baby in gray pajamas.

"Mom?" Jaune asked.

"Jaune… I want you to meet your baby brother, Grayson," Joan said.

"My…" Jaune was at a loss for words. He never thought he'd be a big brother.

"Can I hold him?" Jaune asked softly, afraid he'd scare Grayson.

"Go ahead," Joan nodded.

Jaune reached into the crib and took Grayson into his arms. Grayson waved his own around and Jaune's heart melted. At that moment Jaune swore he'd protect Grayson with his life. Make Remnant a safer place for him to live. He would make anyone who dared harm his brother beware his power.

It was only then Jaune realized something— someone— was missing from the reunion.

"Hey, where's Dad?" Jaune asked.

A somber mood fell over the group.

"He's been in Vale ever since Beacon fell looking for you," Dee said.

"The only time he's been back home was to be with Mom when Grayson was born," Ciri explained.

"Well… I was thinking about heading into Vale to myself," Jaune said.

"Oh..." Joan said disappointedly before begging, "At least stay the night."

"I… guess that wouldn't hurt," Jaune said.

Joan smiled and she left the room with Jaune's sisters, leaving Jaune and Grayson alone.

Jaune carefully placed Grayson back into his crib and took his ring out of his pocket.

Pointing the ring into the crib, Jaune constructed various animals to float above Grayson.

Grayson giggled and grabbed at the animals.

Grayson eventually tired out and went to sleep. Jaune deemed it appropriate to do the same.

Slowly exiting Grayson's room and closing the door, Jaune walked over to the bathroom and took a shower and brushed his teeth before heading to his room.

It was exactly how Jaune left it. Comic books and video games lying everywhere, and his bed unmade.

Jaune walked over to his dresser and pulled out some pajamas he hoped still fit him.

Luckily they did, and Jaune slipped into his bed and into a dreamless sleep.

**THE VEGA SYSTEM, SECTOR 2828**

Hal dropped the ship out of hyperspace and into realspace near the planet Zarikon.

"Everyone activate your shields. We're going in low profile," Hal said before he dissolved the ship.

Flying through space with just the aid of a ring was a new sensation to Nora. The vast emptiness on all sides made her feel truly small. Following Hal down to the surface of the planet, she landed with him on the outskirts of a city. Hal had a tracker activated on his ring, no doubt tracking the energy of the gods.

"Everyone take off your uniforms," Kyle ordered, his uniform dissolving off his skin. Hal did the same.

It was the first time any of them had seen Kyle and Hal out of costume. Kyle wore a t-shirt and jeans, Hal wore a flight jacket with his last name on the right chest area with tan pants, and Saint Walker wore a gray short-sleeved shirt and pants.

The Lanterns from Remnant followed suit, their clothes regaining their normal color.

"So why are we not going in with our uniforms?" Nora asked.

"Zarikon is the home of a very dangerous criminal syndicate called the Culled. They have eyes everywhere. If we went into the city in our Lantern uniforms, they'd be dropping bombs on us left and right. That wouldn't be an issue for us, but it would be for those around us," Kyle explained.

Nora hummed in agreement.

Kyle led the group to the city limits and they entered a street full of alien vendors.

Nora's eyes lit up and she rushed from each vendor, admiring the alien wares.

While the other Remnant Lanterns were looking around the street with interest, Hal, Kyle, and Saint Walker were focused on the mission. Kyle was following the signal when someone reached for his pocket but was slapped away.

"By the way," Kyle called, "Put your wallets somewhere they can't be grabbed."

Eventually, Kyle found himself and the rest of the group in front of a small house. Kyle took a quick check to see that no one was looking and constructed a radar. The most recent source of energy from the gods was here.

Kyle knocked, and as soon as his fist made contact with the door, it opened to reveal a featureless gray man with moose antlers.

"Hello. I am Ethos. I have been expecting you," he spoke.

**Thanks to DeltaFell for editing this chapter.**


	5. Rage and Rebuilding

"Hello. I am Ethos. I have been expecting you." the gray man said politely to the group of Lanterns, "Please come in."

Ethos opened the door wider so that the Lanterns could enter. Most of the Remnantians took him up on the offer and walked inside, but Hal, Kyle, and Hazel stood their ground, eyeing Ethos skeptically. Hal and Kyle eventually looked at each other, shrugged, and walked into the house.

Hazel stayed outside for a few moments longer, before entering, his senses alert and ring at the ready. Ethos closed the doors and everyone except Hazel had settled into a seat.

"You've… been expecting us?" Hazel asked dubiously, staring at Ethos' back as he walked around his kitchen, fixing himself a cup of tea.

"Yes… for a few millennia. I'm surprised it took the Green Lantern Corps this long to find one of us," Ethos said as he dipped the tea bag into the water.

"So you know why we're here?" Kyle asked.

"You're looking for Logos and Pathos for twenty-five million seven hundred twelve thousand nine hundred twenty-two counts of murder," Ethos said without missing a beat.

"How did you know that?" Nora asked.

"After Logos and Pathos scraped their experiment clean, they came to tell me what they had done and that they were worried the Green Lantern Corps would come after them and that I'd never see them again. Then they left," Ethos explained.

"So you mean to tell me that you've had knowledge of a genocide for millennia but have never reported it to the proper authorities?" Hal asked.

Ethos jerked and then stood still for a moment, but didn't say anything. He realized he had dug himself into a hole he couldn't climb out of.

Hal stood up and pointed his ring at Ethos, saying "Ethos of the Nameless Land, by the Laws of the Green Lantern Corps you are under arrest for withholding evidence."

At that moment, Hazel heard something. It sounded like a faint humming. Hazel looked out the window and saw a congregation of alien lowlifes outside the house, and something covered with a large tarp. When one of the aliens removed the tarp, Hazel saw what it was.

Hazel's ring sprang to life and his uniform spread over his body as he constructed a barrier right before the cannon was fired at the house.

The outside of the house disintegrated and the blast struck Hazel's shield and dispersed.

The rest of Ethos' guests sprang to their feet when the blast hit, activating their rings and revealing their uniforms.

"It's the Culled," Kyle growled.

"How did they find us?" Saint Walker asked.

"Must not have landed far enough from the city limits," Hal theorized.

While those three were talking, Hazel rushed out and began to combat the Culled.

It was easy. Easier than fighting Grimm. The ring of rage enhanced his strength beyond his wildest dreams, but Hazel took care not to break the lowlifes too much. Laser bolts bounced harmlessly against the cocoon that the ring wrapped around his body. While Hazel rampaged through the street, beating down any gang member in his path, other Culled repositioned the cannon to point at Hazel and fired.

Hazel didn't see it coming, but he heard the results. When he turned around, he found a green barrier between himself and the cannon and discovered Watts had shielded him.

"You're wearing an Indigo ring. How'd you make a green construct?" Hazel asked.

"Indigos are able to channel any light of the spectrum. Didn't you pay attention at all during Kyle's training?" Watts asked.

"Not when it didn't pertain to me," Hazel said, blasting away another Culled.

Watts huffed and used a set of claws to disassemble the cannon, before building a cage out of them, trapping the criminals.

While Hazel was batting around Culled like ragdolls, he became vaguely aware of a thumping sound, which soon turned to the ground shaking. Hazel turned around and was met with a large metal fist that sent him flying into a wall. Hazel's Semblance blocked the pain, which allowed him to quickly jump back up and see what had struck him. It was a large robot, with rounded edges and around Hazel's height, if not slightly larger. It brought its arm up and revealed a minigun that shot lasers at Hazel. Hazel charged forward, letting the ring soak up the laser's damage. The blasts ricocheted every which way, some striking other Culled. When Hazel closed the gap, the robot tried to punch him again, but Hazel caught the fist, and with his inhuman strength, ripped it out of the robot's socket.

Hazel then jumped on the robot, pinning it down. He felt his stomach begin to rumble and heat making its way up to his chest, then through his throat before vomiting his acid blood onto the robot's face, melting away the cockpit and revealing the pilot. Hazel grabbed the pilot around the neck and held him in the air, readying a punch that would knock his head off, but he was stopped by a pink bubble encapsulating his wrist.

Looking over his shoulder, Hazel saw Nora pointing her ring at him before saying, "He's down for the count. You don't have to kill him."

Hazel looked at the pilot, who was gasping for breath before he dropped him onto the ground.

Nora released Hazel's hand from her bubble before pointing her ring behind him and letting off a blast, striking a Culled that was sneaking up on Hazel.

Looking around, Hazel saw that all the Culled were either restrained or incapacitated and Hal was frantically searching through the rubble of Ethos' home.

"Dammit!" Hal shouted, kicking rubble around.

"What's wrong?" Hazel asked.

"Ethos escaped during the fight," Hal groaned.

"Can you follow him?" Ruby asked.

"We'll need to go back to the universal map on Mogo," Hal informed, constructing a spaceship for everyone to board.

"This mission was a bust," Kyle muttered as Hal took off towards Mogo.

During the flight, Hazel's ring chirped.

_Power levels critical._

Kyle turned towards him, eyes wide.

"You don't have a battery," Kyle realized with horror.

Hazel looked at his ring and back at Kyle.

"It's fine," Hazel said.

"It's not fine, you'll die!" Kyle shouted.

Everyone in the ship turned to them.

"How will you die?" Watts asked concernedly.

"The red ring has replaced my heart… if it leaves my body or loses power, I'll die," Hazel revealed to Watts.

"Where can we get a battery for him?" Watts asked, his usual bravado replaced by worry.

"On Ysmault, in Sector 2814," Kyle said.

"I'll teleport us there," Watts offered.

"Okay, one second," Kyle said, before walking up to Hal and telling him where they were planning to go.

"Be safe," Hal told Kyle.

"Always am," Kyle said before walking back to Hazel and Watts telling them, "Let's go."

Watts focused on his ring, willing it to warp the three of them to Sector 2814. In a flash of indigo, they disappeared from the ship.

**ROUEN, REMNANT, SECTOR 3613**

Jaune was vaguely aware of the light shining through his eyelids and the sounds and smells coming from downstairs, but the veil of sleep laid heavy over top him. He eventually came to his senses and opened his eyes. For a moment Jaune was confused. He had no idea where he was until the events of the previous night replayed in his mind. He was finally home in Rouen after two years. This was his room. Jaune changed into his clothes, slipped his ring into a pocket, and walked down the stairs into the kitchen. Jaune entered the kitchen and he saw his mother making food with his sisters sitting around the table bickering like normal.

Jaune sat down and said, "Glad to see some things never change."  
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked, cleaning her glasses.

"You're all still fighting is what I mean," Jaune said.

"Yeah, so?" Dee asked.

"So nothing," Jaune said.

"Why'd you take so long to come home?" Scout butted in.

Jaune sat for a moment, wondering what he should tell his family before deciding, "I… was on a mission."

"For two years?" Dee asked.

"No… closer to a year," Jaune said, "I was in Beacon for a while."

"The mission's over?" Ciri asked.

"Yeah… the mission's over. It wouldn't have been any different if I was there or not," Jaune said bitterly

"Does that mean you'll be home more often?" Joan called from the kitchen.

"I don't know, I'll try," Jaune said.

"Well trying is all we can ask for," Joan said, delivering the plates of food to her children, but before setting Jaune's down, asked, "Jaune, can you go wake Grayson? I don't want him sleeping until three and then not going to bed tonight."

"Yeah, Mom, sure," Jaune obliged, standing and heading upstairs into Grayson's room. Flipping the light switch, Jaune walked over to the crib and picked up Grayson.

Holding him in his arms, Jaune said softly a few times, "Hey, buddy, wake up."

Jaune repeated his mantra until Grayson's eyes fluttered open. Despite the time they spent together the night before, Grayson didn't seem to recognize Jaune and began to fuss.

"Hey buddy, come on," Jaune said, gently rocking Grayson until he calmed down. Once Grayson was content, Jaune exited the room and brought him down to the kitchen.

"Thanks, Jaune," Joan said, taking Grayson from Jaune's arms and putting him in his chair.

Jaune sat down and ate while trading meaningless conversation. When Jaune finished his plate, he took it to the sink and told his family, "I'm going into Vale to find Dad."

Their demeanors changed from bliss to disappointment that Jaune would leave so soon.

"Be safe, Jaune," Dee ordered, wrapping her arms around Jaune, the rest of the girls following suit.

"I will," Jaune promised, wrapping his arms around them before walking out the door where his family saw him off and down the street. Once he was sure he was out of sight, he slipped on his Power Ring and flew off to Vale.

In less than a minute, the ruined city came into view and Jaune landed in an abandoned street. Dispersing his uniform, Jaune appeared back in his regular clothes.

Walking through the ruined streets caused him pain. The memories he had in Vale with his team were the greatest Jaune had ever made, and he would never get another chance. They all grew up too fast.

Jaune pushed those thoughts out of his mind and surged forward. After nearly an hour of looking around the city, Jaune found a campsite full of grizzled old Huntsman.

Walking up to the site, Jaune was met with hostile gazes, but he didn't let that bother him. Walking up to a Huntsman who was sitting on a crate, facing away with a drink in his hand, Jaune asked, "Excuse me, have you seen Nick Arc around?"

The Huntsman didn't turn around, but snorted and said, "Yeah, I've seen 'im. Everyone has. He's been playing it up for the cameras ever since Beacon fell."

"What do you mean?" Jaune inquired.

"There's a news crew that's been covering the cleanup efforts. They've been focusing on him more than anyone else though. He always take on the biggest, most dangerous Grimm in the area."  
"Really?" Jaune asked

"Why do you want him?" The Huntsman asked, finally turning around and facing Jaune before looking him up and down and simply saying, "Ah."

"So which way is the news crew?" Jaune asked.

The Huntsman looked around a bit before pointing and saying, "That way."  
"Thanks!" Jaune shouted while running off.

Jaune encountered a few low-level Grimm on his way to find his father. Nothing that required his Power Ring.

When Jaune stabbed a Creep through its back and continued down a street, he heard shouting and gunfire. Racing to the corner and down the street, Jaune saw a Jubanyx, a cheetah type Grimm running circles around the Huntsman and news crew. A Jubanyx could usually give Ruby a run for her money, and multiple of them were bad news, but what concerned Jaune more were the Goliaths added into the mix. The Huntsmen were busy trying to protect the news crew from the Jubanyx while simultaneously fighting off the Goliaths. Jaune conte involved when the decision was made for him. A Jubanyx slipped through one of the Huntsman's guard and leaped at a cameraman. No one would be able to save him. No one without the most powerful weapon in the universe, quickly constructing his uniform, Jaune flew off and tackled the Jubanyx through the air before flying up and dropping it to the ground where it landed with a crunch.

"Ring, target all Jubanyx," Jaune commanded.

_Targets locked._

Jaune let a flurry of shots out from his ring, each connecting with a Jubanyx, killing them instantly. Jaune changed his focus to the Goliaths and constructed a sword that slashed through their legs, sending the Goliaths to the ground, where Jaune swiped the sword their midsections before they disintegrated.

With all the Grimm cleared, everybody's attention turned to Jaune, the green-clad hero in the sky as he floated to the ground, where he was swarmed by the news crew.

A microphone was shoved into his face as he was asked, "Who are you?"

Jaune was hesitant, but slowly answered, "I'm... Green Lantern."

"And where are you from, Green Lantern?" the reporter, who Jaune recognized as Lisa Lavender, asked.

"Vale," Jaune answered.

"So are you a Huntsman?"

"Yes, I am," Jaune said.

"How did you do what you did?" Lisa inquired, clearly expecting Jaune to answer with his Semblance.

"I used this," Jaune said, displaying his Power Ring.

"What is that?" Lisa asked, eyeing the piece of jewelry.

"It's my Power Ring," Jaune revealed.

"And what exactly is a Power Ring?" Lisa asked.

"The most powerful weapon ever conceived and the weapon of a Green Lantern," Jaune said.

"You mean Green Lantern isn't your real name? There's more than one? What is a Green Lantern?"

Jaune took a deep breath, knowing that he would sound like a lunatic, "A Green Lantern is an intergalactic lawman dedicated to protecting life in every form."

"Intergalactic? As in space?" Lisa asked incredulously.

"Yes," Jaune confirmed.

"But space travel is impossible," Lisa affirmed.

"With Remnant's technology, it is," Jaune replied.

"And your Power Ring is extraterrestrial?" Lisa asked skeptically.

"Yes," Jaune verified.

"So are the councils aware that a space cop is operating on Remnant?" Lisa asked, uninterestedly, obviously thinking Jaune was lying.

Jaune suddenly realized that the world governments would not be likely to appreciate what they perceived as a vigilante more powerful than any team of Huntsman to be flying around unchecked.

Nestling his chin between his thumb and index finger, Jaune said, "That's not a bad idea."

"Well, it's been nice speaking to you, Green Lantern," Lisa said.

"You too," Jaune answered.

Once the cameras went off, Jaune scanned the team of Huntsman for his father. Once he laid eyes on him, Jaune flew off. It wouldn't do to reveal his identity in front of a news crew.

Jaune wasn't going to lose track of him though, as he planted a microscopic tracking device on him so that they could reunite later.

Jaune flew up and caught sight of Beacon Tower, suddenly remembering Ironwood's plan to reunite Remnant. Maybe Jaune could complete it.

Flying over to Beacon, Jaune mindlessly killed Grimm and once more began to reminisce while feeling a weight laying on his heart. Jaune may be a Huntsman now, he may have the only thing that ever made him special wrapped around his finger, he may have the potential to be the greatest, most legendary hero to ever walk the face of Remnant.

He would give it all away if it meant things could go back to the way they were before Beacon fell.

Jaune flew to the top of what was left of Beacon Tower and came face to face with the petrified Wyvern.

Jaune constructed a hand, which flicked the Wyvern off the side of the tower.

Jaune looked around the wrecked tower and asked, "Ring, can you rebuild the tower and repair its systems?"

_Affirmative._

"Do it," Jaune commanded.

The rubble around the tower glowed green and began to float up, fitting together like puzzle pieces and the cracks between them sealing, making it as if they were never broken in the first place.

The cogs fit together and the cracks in the glass disappeared.

After minutes, the green glow disappeared and Beacon Tower was as good as new. Reaching into his pocket, Jaune brought out his Scroll and checked the signal. It was strong.

Jaune was feeling a bit faint so he walked over to Ozpin's desk and sat down. Resting his face in his hands, Jaune stayed that way for minutes on end until the elevator dinged.

Jaune looked up and was surprised to see Professor Goodwitch staring at him.

"Did you... do this?" Goodwitch asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, I did," Jaune said.

"How?" Goodwitch asked. Jaune supposed she had not seen the footage of his interview, which was unsurprising. She had better things to do.

"Used my Power Ring," Jaune said simply.

"Your what?" Goodwitch asked.

"I'm not going over this again," Jaune muttered before asking, "You're the Headmistress of Beacon now, right?"

"I suppose I am," Goodwitch verified.

"Which means you're on the council?" Jaune ventured further.

"Yes," Goodwitch said, eyes narrowing.

"Great," Jaune said, "I'm going to need a meeting with the rest of the council."

"Why?" Goodwitch queried.

"I need to set up an agreement with the world governments if I'm going to operate in their territory. I'd rather not be pursued by law enforcement," Jaune explained.

"What do you mean?" Glynda asked.

"Let's say I represent a third party interested in keeping Remnant safe," Jaune said.

"Safe from what?" Glynda asked.

"Itself mostly," Jaune said.

"Remnant has nothing to fear aside from the Grimm, and we already have people dedicated to quelling that threat," Goodwitch said.

"They won't be enough. Salem is dead and the Grimm are disorganized, more erratic," Jaune said.

"Did you say Salem?" Goodwitch asked, taken aback.

"Yes. Salem, the gods, Ozpin, I know the whole story," Jaune explained.

"Why should I get this council meeting for you?" Glynda asked, now interested.

"I repaired the CCT for you. I help you, you help me," Jaune reasoned.

Glynda thought for a moment before saying, "Fine, but I can't promise you'll get the results you want from this meeting. How am I supposed to tell you when the meeting even is?"

Jaune looked at his Power Ring and simply said, "I'll know."

**SECTOR 2814**

An indigo portal opened and the trio exited into empty space, stars, planets, and the void filling their view.

"So which way is this Ysmault?" Watts asked Kyle.

Kyle scanned the abyss before locking his eyes onto the red planet in the distance.

"There it is," Kyle pointed, flying off and motioning Watts and Hazel to follow.

Hazel followed close behind, staying near Kyle as they passed through the vast expanse of space.

When the entered the atmosphere of Ysmault, it smelled heavily of blood, and the air tasted like copper.

"Watts, go red," Kyle ordered.

"Hm? Oh, right," Watts said, channeling the Red Light of Rage through his Indigo ring, changing his force field from Indigo to Red.

"What about you?" Hazel grunted, looking up to find Kyle nowhere in sight.

"Kyle?"

"Yeah?" Kyle's voice asked from beside Hazel.

"Where the hell'd you go?" Hazel asked.

"I'm right here. Just invisible," Kyle said.

"What else can those rings do?" Hazel wondered.

"Better question is what can't they do?" Kyle stated, "Okay let's land."

The trio took a steep dive towards the ground. Landing, on the shore of an ocean of blood.

"Is this real blood?" Hazel asked.

"I think so," Kyle said.

"Which way do we go?" Watts asked.\

"Towards the giant Red Lantern Battery," Kyle said, which caused Hazel and Watts to turn around and look on the horizon and see two red spikes peek out a nearby hill.

Kyle had already started on his way, shown by the footsteps appearing in the sand. Hazel and Watts followed. Once they reached the crest of the hill, Hazel and Watts were taken aback by just how many Red Lanterns there were. A whole army was aimlessly milling around the Central Power Battery.

"So where are the Power Batteries?" Hazel asked.

"You gotta reach inside the Central Power Battery and then pull one out," Kyle told him.

"Well, we best go try," Watts said, beginning to walk down the hill.

Hazel and Watts walked down the hill, reaching the bottom and weaving their way through the crowd of Red Lanterns, which was easier for Watts and Kyle than for Hazel, who had to push his way through the Red Lanterns instead of slipping between them, causing a few to shout at him.

Once they reached the Central Power Battery, Hazel and Watts heard a collective muttering and growling. Turning around, Hazel and Watts saw a congregation of Red Lanterns.

"This could get ugly," Watts muttered.

"If they attack, channel Blue and blast them," Kyle whispered in his ear.

Despite not knowing why he was told this, Watts decided not to question the veteran Lantern.

Hazel turned around and carefully reached into the Central Power Battery. Hazel reached in up to his shoulder, and couldn't feel anything except for the red-hot hate, but then his fingers rubbed against something. Hazel quickly wrapped his fingers around it and yanked it free of the Central Power Battery.

Hazel looked at his blood-covered arm, and then at what was clutched in his hand.

A Red Lantern Power Battery.

At the sight of the unknown Lantern pulling a Power Battery out of the Central Power Battery, the Red Lanterns grew rowdier and started approaching.

"Do I blast them now?" Watts asked Kyle.

"Yes," Kyle confirmed.

Focusing on his ring, Watts channeled the Blue Light of Hope, before pointing his ring at the Red Lanterns and unleashing the power, which seemed to burn them, as they scared away from the blue constructs.

"What is the meaning of this?!" A guttural voice roared as a red blur rose from behind the Central Power Battery.

"Ah, shit," Kyle swore.

Watts and Hazel could feel the hatred and anger radiating off this Red Lantern. It was greater than any they had ever felt.

"Who is that?" Hazel asked.

"That's Atrocitus… the leader and founder of the Red Lantern Corps," Kyle explained.

The bulky red alien stalked over to Hazel and Watts, who promptly blasted him with a burst of Hope.

Atrocitus recoiled but pushed forward, raising his arm, ready to take off Watt's head in one swipe, but was blasted back by Kyle.

"Quick, get us home!" Kyle commanded.

Focusing the ring into channeling Indigo, Watts opened a portal which he jumped through, taking him to Mogo, followed by Hazel and Kyle.

"That was too close for comfort," Kyle said before asking, "You got the battery?"

"Yeah, I have it," Hazel said, holding up the battery before asking, "How does it work?"

Kyle briefly explained the proper way to charge a Power Ring and informing Hazel of the Red Lantern Corps' oath.

Putting the Power Ring inside the battery's port, Hazel recited the oath.

"With blood and rage of crimson red, ripped from a corpse so freshly dead, together with our hellish hate, we'll burn you all—that is your fate!"

As Hazel finished his oath, he felt rejuvenated, and his ring sparked with power.

"So what do I do with the battery now?" Hazel asked.

**VALE, REMNANT, SECTOR 3613**

Jaune followed the tracking device he planted on his father and landed a few blocks away, before deconstructing his uniform and walking down to where his father was.

After following the tracker for some time, Jaune came upon a rather large campsite filled with at least a dozen tents.

Jaune slipped his ring off and put it in his pocket before he continued further.

Entering the campsite, Jaune was met with a few strange looks, he ignored them and asked around for his father, and being pointed to a tent on the furthest edge of the camp.

Entering the tent, Jaune found his father asleep on a cot, or at least he thought he was until he said, "I was beginning to lose hope, you know."

"Dad?" Jaune asked.

"Hiya, son," Nick said, sitting up on the cot.

Jaune walked forward as Nick stood up and father embraced his son for the first time in years.

When they broke apart, Nick looked Jaune in the eyes and asked, "So you're a space cop now, huh?"

**Thanks to LightningLink for editing this chapter!**


	6. Ends of a Road

**VALE, REMNANT, SECTOR 3613**

Jaune blanched and stuttered, "Wh-what are you talking about, Dad?"

"You think a dumb mask and a haircut's gonna keep me from recognizing my own son?" Nick asked with a wry smile, "Also carrying around your great-great-grandfather's sword doesn't help you any."

Jaune looked down at Crocea Mors and scratched the back of his neck. Maybe he didn't take efficient steps at protecting his identity.

Sitting down on his cot, his father asked, "So you're really a space cop?"

Jaune walked over and looked outside the flaps of the tent, making sure no one was close enough to overhear him, before walking back to his father and saying, "Yeah, I'm a space cop."

"Where's the ring?" Nick asked.

Jaune reached into his pocket and showed his father the Power Ring.

Nick carefully took the ring from his son and examined every inch.

"So this is an alien weapon?" Nick asked, tossing the ring back to Jaune.

"Yeah," Jaune answered, fumbling the ring and dropping it.

"Did you fix the CCT Tower with it?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, I did," Jaune answered, kneeling down to pick up the ring.

Nick looked at Jaune for a moment before saying, "I saw you fight. In the Vytal Tournament, I mean."

Jaune cringed. That wasn't one of his finer moments. The whole thing was a mess.

"I uh… I also heard about your partner. I'm sorry. It's a helluva thing, losing your partner," Nick said apologetically.

"Yeah, well, what's done is done," Jaune said softly.

Silence hung heavy between them until Nick finally asked, "Why are you here, Jaune?"

Jaune looked at his tired and graying father, who had bags under his eyes and looked like he hadn't shaved in days and said, "To take you home."

Nick smiled and said, "Let's get packing then."

Jaune smiled and began to help his father pack his things. When everything his father needed was collected, they set off to an abandoned street where Jaune donned his ring and uniform before encasing his father in the ring's protective covering and lifting off into the sky.

Jaune had gotten used to the flying, so it wasn't as exhilarating as it used to be, but his father was having the time of his life and was visibly disappointed by the time they got to Rouen.

Jaune opened the door, announcing they were home and that their father had come with him.

Nick did not stand a chance against the girls.

**MOGO, SECTOR 0**

Ruby walked into the control room where she saw Hal looking over a map while Helen was on his back, looking over his shoulder. Ruby also noticed the white hairs on the side of his head were slightly more noticeable than before.

Across from Hal was a Green Lantern that Ruby had not seen before. He had ginger hair in a crew cut and wore a closed vest with the Green Lantern symbol low on the side of his stomach.

Hal looked over at Ruby and motioned her over. Helen waved.

"Hey, Hal, what's up?" Ruby asked, waving back at Helen.

"Got a mission for you," Hal said, waving Helen's hand away as it tried to pry off his mask.

"A mission?" Ruby asked, "What is it?"

"We've got a drug den in Sector 2126, I'm sending you with Lantern Gardner to bust it," Hal said.

"Seriously, Hal? You're sending a kid rookie into the midst of murderers and thieves?" Guy asked skeptically.

"She can handle herself. Besides, knowing you, the druggies may want a Blue Lantern," Hal said.

"Fine," Guy sighed, before turning to Ruby and saying, "You follow my lead, got it, kid?"

Ruby nodded.

"Good," Guy said, walking out of the control room with Ruby following behind.

When they left the building, Guy suddenly took off in a streak of green, leaving Ruby behind.

Ruby rolled her eyes and took off after the veteran Lantern. After a struggle to catch up, Ruby finally flew beside Gardner and asked, "What was that about?!"

Guy looked at her out of the side of his eye and answered, "You gotta be prepared for anything at all times, and you clearly weren't prepared for that."

Ruby huffed and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms as she flew beside Guy.

The duo flew in silence for a few minutes before Ruby asked, "So are you from Remnant too?"

Guy snorted and said, "Nope, Hal, John, Kyle, and I come from Earth from good ol' Sector 2814."

"What's Earth like?" Ruby asked, "Do you know the Justice League?"

"Know the Justice League? I was in the Justice League!" Guy boasted.

"You were? Did you meet Superman?" Ruby asked. She had never met Superman, but the way Helen talked about him when they were playing with the wooden dolls that she had claimed Superman had made for her birthday made Ruby think he was too good to be true.

"Yeah, I met the Big Blue Boy Scout," Guy said before turning to Ruby and asking, "Aren't you from some planet that's even more backwater than Earth was?"

"Uhhhhh. I guess?" Ruby said. She wasn't exactly keen on what planets were popular and which weren't.

"So how do you know who Superman and the Justice League are?" Guy asked.

"Helen told me about them," Ruby explained.

"Oh did she? Helen's a nice kid. Don't tell them I said this but she and Hal are lucky to have each other," Guy said.

Ruby was about to reply when Guy said, "Heads up, we're almost at the drug lab."

Guy and Ruby stopped in an asteroid field, and Ruby looked around, seeing no planets or space stations of any sort.

"Are you sure they're around here?" Ruby asked.

"I'm sure," Guy said, scanning the larger asteroids with his ring.

A realization hit Ruby.

"You mean that the drug lab is in one of the asteroids?" Ruby asked.

"Yep," Guy said, "Now get to scanning."

Ruby obliged and pointed her ring at any asteroid that seemed to be the size of a small room or larger. It was a painstakingly slow task that took almost an hour to complete, but Ruby finally found the lab.

Ruby alerted Guy through the ring and in a moment, Guy had flown beside Ruby and asked, "You ever go intangible before?"

"In-what?" Ruby asked, not getting an answer when Guy grabbed her wrist and flew both of them straight into the massive asteroid.

Flying into an empty room, Ruby's entire body felt like it was being poked all over with pins and needles.

"What was that?!" Ruby asked, shaking her arm out, trying to make the prickling all over her body go away.

"That was us flying straight through a wall," Guy answered before telling Ruby "Get ready."

Guy readied his Power Ring and carefully exited the small room that he and Ruby were inside of, pointing his ring in both directions.

"We're clear," Guy said.

Quickly running down the hallway, Guy looked out into the corridor and pointed his ring at a pair of armed guards, and a cone of light shot out, bathing them in the beam until the keeled over.

"What did you do?" Ruby asked.

"Sleep ray. They're gonna be fine," Guy answered.

Exploring more of the compound, Guy and Ruby came across a door, which Guy told her said "lab."

"Follow my lead," Guy said, before kicking in the door and shouting "Green Lantern Corps, you're all under arrest!"

Ruby quickly followed him inside and was met with a laser to the face. Thankfully her force field absorbed the bolt.

Guy was like a brutal whirlwind of green destruction and Ruby was hard-pressed to keep up, but she took down her fair share of druggies too.

When the shooting was all done, Guy rubbed his hands together as if to clean them of nonexistent grime when his eyes widened and his ring sparked to life and he used it to construct a fist which smacked a druggie who was aiming a weapon at Ruby.

The punch sent the shot off course and struck a bag of the product, sending its contents flying into the air, and Ruby accidentally inhaled some of it through her nose.

Before the world went black, Ruby could vaguely hear Guy saying "Ah shit."

Ruby awoke in a bed with a mild headache. Looking around, she spotted many machines in the room that wasn't her own. It was dark, and no one else was in the room with her. Ruby's first thought was that she'd been captured, but the fact that her ring remained made her doubt it.

Sitting up in the bed and stretching, Ruby got out of bed and examined the machines closer. They were medical machines.

Ruby came to the conclusion that she was in the medical ward on Mogo.

Slipping out of bed, Ruby left the medical ward and explored the now darkened Mogo. She must have been out for a while if it were nighttime on Mogo.

The sky was dark, save for the stars and the single orb of green light floating in front of the Central Power Battery. Ruby walked towards the Central Power Battery, careful not to make a sound and alert the lone Lantern.

Once Ruby had gotten near to the singular Lantern, she flew up and tapped him on the shoulder.

Hal turned around with a look on his face that Ruby never thought she would see.

Worry and fear. Hal looked like he had aged twenty years in the day since they last saw each other.

"Hal? What's wrong?" Ruby asked. She knew it wasn't her place to pry, but to see a Green Lantern afraid of something was concerning.

Hal's eyes were watery, "It's Helen."

Ruby covered her mouth and asked, "Oh no. Did something happen?"

"Not yet," Hal said.

"What do you mean not yet?" Ruby asked.

"During my career, I've seen dozens of different futures. The apocalypse, utopias, dystopias, but none of them terrify me. Except one. The future I was shown as the Spectre. The future where Helen takes her own life before she's thirty," Hal explained, as his tears rolled down his cheeks.

Ruby gasped, reaching out to comfort Hal before he exploded, "And I don't know if I'll be powerful enough to stop it!"

Ruby's heart ached for the man, but she didn't know what to say. How was she supposed to comfort someone for an event that had yet to pass? Or was she supposed to give him an empty promise that Helen, his pride and joy, would be fine?

"I'm a Green Lantern. I'm not supposed to be afraid, but I am. Almost more afraid than I've been in my entire life." Hal wept, looking at the Central Power Battery "And I can't take more power than I'm allowed. I've made that mistake before. Either Helen dies, Earth goes to Hell, and Stigmonus wins, or she lives, leads Earth into a new Golden Age, and I win."

"Stigmonus? Who's Stigmonus?"

Darkness loomed over Hal as he spoke, "Stigmonus is the man who murdered my brother. He's the reason Helen is in my life. He's negativity incarnate and he wants to see the universe go down the drain. I can't let that happen."

As Ruby was about to say something, a burst of shrill laughter pierced the air, seemingly coming from every direction. White smoke began to form a figure.

It was a man dressed in the high fashion of the 18th century, ghostly white skin, and a black goatee with a Yin Yang symbol on his forehead.

"So you finally remembered me, huh, Jordan?" the man who Ruby can only assume was Stigmonus asked.

Ruby aimed her ring at the man, but Hal pushed her arm down, saying, "Fighting Stigmonus directly only makes him stronger. He's got to be combatted with hope, light, love, goodness, and forgiveness," Hal said.

"That was one of many many lessons you learned as the Spectre, but I've learned since we last met as well. As long as there are heroes like Superman, the Flash, and yourself, the universe will never go in the direction I want it to naturally. So I decided I'll have to take a more… proactive approach. I'll see you soon, Jordan, Ms. Rose," Stigmonus said as he took a bow before disappearing in a puff of white smoke.

Ruby looked to Hal, who's worry and fear had been replaced with silent resolve.

"Hal, are you alright?"

Hal looked down at Ruby and nodded, saying "We should keep trying to find your gods. We can't find Stigmonus and he'll reveal himself when he's ready. We'll be waiting then."

"What about Helen?" Ruby asked.

"If Stigmonus has abandoned subtlety, Helen should be fine. He has no reason to manipulate her anymore," Hal explained, looking like a weight on his heart had been released.

Looking at Ruby, Hal asked, "Enough about me, how are you? You were pretty out of it when Guy brought you in."

Ruby shrugged and said, "Other than a slight headache I don't really feel anything."

Hal nodded and said, "That's good. Get some sleep, kid," before flying off to his own bedroom.

**ANIMA, REMNANT, SECTOR 3613**

Jaune had spent the day ironing out the Green Lantern Corps' relations with Vale, Vacuo, and Mistral. Needless to say, the councils were skeptical of Jaune's story of being an officer in a space police force. It had taken some doing, but Jaune had managed to convince the councils of the three kingdoms that he was telling the truth and to allow him authority in their territories. Jaune had just set things straight with Mistral before heading off Atlas, cleaning up any incidents along the way.

As Jaune flew over Anima, his eyes were drawn to a burning town.

Breaking from his course, Jaune flew low over the village and saw what was going on.

It was a bandit raid.

Jaune first focused his willpower into creating a fire extinguisher and sprayed the buildings with it, smothering the flames before deconstructing it and focusing on the bandits.

There were bandits running amok throughout the whole town. Jaune set his sights on the bandits he could see and pointed his ring, chains flying in every direction and ensnaring the felons. Jaune was grouping the bandits together when he felt something strike his back. The force of the blow made Jaune stumbled forward slightly, but he was unharmed thanks to the ring's forcefield. Before he could turn around, Jaune was struck three more times before being kicked onto his stomach.

Turning around, Jaune saw a woman dressed in red wearing a Grimm mask leap at him with her sword raised. Jaune blasted her back. She landed on the ground and before she could get up, a birdcage was constructed around her.

Raven quickly transformed into her bird form, like she had practiced this many times before and as soon as she passed through the bars, she warped back to human.

Raven wasted no time in rushing Jaune, hoping to shatter what she thought was his Aura.

Strike after strike from her sword made contact with Jaune's force field, but each blow was negated by the green glow. This went on for a minute or two until Raven realized she couldn't break through Jaune's defense with her sword.

To Jaune's surprise, she sheathed it.

Even more to Jaune's surprise, Raven's hands began to glow. One yellow, one orange.

Two ferocious streams of lightning and fire battered Jaune, blasting him back, but he was otherwise unharmed.

Jaune stood up, and for the first time since their encounter began, one of them spoke, "You're a Maiden?"

Raven was quiet for a moment before saying "I am. What are you?"

"Green Lantern Officer 3613," Jaune identified himself as.

In the blink of an eye, Raven seemingly disappeared, but Jaune turned around and found her hand on his face.

Jaune was bombarded with all the magic at a Maiden's disposal. Fire, ice, water, wind, lightning, plants, and earth.

When Jaune's vision cleared, Raven was left panting, all her energy used in the last attack. Jaune was none the worse for wear.

"H-how?" Raven panted, backing away.

"Space police have to be tough. Now put the sword down. You're coming with me," Jaune ordered.

Raven looked at her restrained tribe members, then back at Jaune. The mask covered her whole face so Jaune couldn't tell how she felt.

Raven looked at her tribe members again before looking down and swinging her sword in an arc, creating a wormhole through space and jumping through it. Jaune sent a claw through the portal, trying to grab Raven, but the portal closed on his construct, cutting it in half.

Jaune cursed under his breath and turned to attend to the captured bandits.

While he was preparing to fly off, he heard hushed whispers. Turning around, Jaune realized a crowd of the townspeople had formed.

"He saved us!" one of the townsfolk shouted which led to the whole gathering to start clapping and cheering.

Jaune's face flushed, but he felt elated. He was on the cusp of achieving his dream of being a hero.

Jaune simply smiled and waved before taking off into the night, carrying the bandits back to Mistral.

It was dark in Atlas when Jaune arrived back from Mistral. Flying over Mantle, Jaune could see that the city was a mess, but the Atlas Military was surprisingly helping in the cleanup effort.

Jaune set his sights on Atlas Academy and phased through the window to Ironwood's office.

Jaune found Ironwood behind his desk. Ironwood, alerted by the green glow of Jaune's force field, turned around.

Looking up at the floating Jaune, Ironwood asked, "Can I help you, Mr. Arc?"

"You can assemble a council meeting," Jaune said pointedly.

"And why should I do that?" Ironwood asked.

"Because if I get what I want out of this meeting, I can keep Atlas safe," Jaune said.

"What do you want?" Ironwood asked.

"Permission to operate in Atlas territory," Jaune answered.

"Granted," Ironwood said.

"Wait, what? Just like that?" Jaune asked.

"Giving other law enforcement agencies permission to operate in Atlas territory is under the purview of the military, and I'm the last word on that. We don't need all the pomp and circumstance of a council meeting," Ironwood explained.

"Oh… well, thanks. Do you know where my friends are?" Jaune asked.

"The same place they were staying while you were here," Ironwood said.

"Alright, thanks again!" Jaune said, leaving the office.

"You're welcome," Ironwood said to Jaune as he left to see his friends.

A few minutes after Jaune left, Ironwood stood up from his desk and resumed his daily ritual.

Something evil has made its home deep inside James Ironwood's soul. It had almost had total control over the General until that damned Saint Walker set its plans back with a simple blast of Hope. It was weakened. It no longer had control over Ironwood, it soon would, but now it was reserved to simply influencing his actions, which was exactly what it was doing now. James Ironwood walked through the clean and cold hallways of Atlas Academy. His footsteps echoed off the walls. Ironwood stopped in front of a guarded door and scanned his ID before continuing. He had made this a part of his daily routine ever since Salem was killed as per its influence. Of course, he didn't know it.

Ironwood stopped in front of another guarded door before scanning his ID once more. Ironwood opened the door and entered the room. It had become a sort of makeshift morgue where Salem and Tyrian were stored. Ironwood walked to Tyrian's casket and lifted the lid. He was still there.

After closing the lid, Ironwood turned to Salem's casket. He hesitated. His anxiety was rising. It happened every time. He was terrified he'd open the lid and Salem would be gone. Ironwood reached for the lid and lifted it. His Fear spiked. It pounced. Ironwood's head moved to his hands. He fell to his knees, groaning and he tried to fight it off. His Will wasn't strong enough. It took hold of Ironwood's body.

Ironwood's mouth grew in size along with his teeth which were now sharp and yellow. More of his hair turned white.

James Ironwood was no more.

"Parallax… lives!" Parallax proclaimed.

**Thanks to DeltaFell for editing this chapter!**


	7. The Power of Dreams

**MOGO, SECTOR 0**

Watts was called to the Control Center by none other than Corps Leader Stewart. Stopping just before the automatic doors, Watts straightened his posture and his tie, then flattened out any creases in his clothing.

Entering the Control Center, Watts approached John Stewart, who extended his hand.

Watts shook his hand and said, "Corps Leader Stewart. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Pleasure's all mine, Mr. Watts," John replied.

"I apologize for being so frank, but why did you call me here?"

"I'm told you're a man of superior intellect, Mr. Watts, which is why I'm asking for your help on this assignment," John said coolly.

"And what assignment would that be?" Watts inquired.

"The monarchy on Divion IV has been at war with the empire of Veuter in Sector 2261 for quite some time now, but both sides are sick of it. They've set up peace talks on Mynapus, but have asked me personally to mediate. I think someone as smart as you could help as well," John explained.

A smile tugged at Watt's lips, "It would be my pleasure, Mr. Stewart."

John smiled and said, "Thanks, we'll leave now."

**ATLAS, REMNANT, SECTOR 3613**

Jaune had a long and happy night with Ren, Oscar, and WBY, but the time had come for him to return to his duties.

Silently slipping out of his bunk, Jaune showered and brushed his teeth before equipping his gear. Jaune took a quick glance at his friends strewn around the room before softly closing the door.

Jaune walked out onto the school's landing pad and activated his ring, the green light flowing over him and transforming his clothes into his Green Lantern uniform. Jaune flew into the sky and asked his ring, "So what's on the agenda for today?"

The ring pulled up multiple newsfeeds. Jaune looked through each of them, but none looked like a serious issue. It was a quiet day on Remnant. Jaune continued looking through the newsfeeds just in case and came upon a headline.

_Eleven Missing in Vale settlement. _

Eleven missing people?

"Ring, set a course for this settlement, Eastbourne," Jaune ordered.

_Course set._

Not a minute later, Jaune arrived on the town's outskirts. He dissolved his uniform and entered the town. It was barren. Jaune could almost feel the fear that gripped the town. They were afraid they would be next.

Jaune walked over to a telephone pole which had a missing person poster on it, along with a Scroll number.

"Ring, can you call this Scroll number?"

The ring dialed the number, and Jaune waited for someone to pick up. The other line clicked, and a man said, "Hello?"

"Hello, are you…" Jaune looked at ht name on the poster, "Ming Durn's father?"

"I am, have you found her?" the man frantically asked.

"No, but I'm a police officer and I'm looking into the case," Jaune said.

"I see, is there somewhere we can meet?"

"How about your house? Where do you live?"

A brief conversation regarding how to get to the house from where Jaune ensued, and twenty minutes later he found himself on the doorstep. Jaune knocked on the door, and it opened to reveal a middle-aged man.

"Are you the police officer? You look a little young, and more like a Huntsman," the man said.

"Yeah, I guess I do," Jaune said extending his hand, which the man accepted, "Can you show me where you last saw Ming?"

"Yes, yes, of course," the man said, leading Jaune up the stairs and into a small bedroom.

"This is Ming's bedroom," the man said.

"And you last saw her exactly two weeks ago?" Jaune asked.

"Yes," the man confirmed.

"I"m going to use my Semblance, you might not like what you see," Jaune said.

"Semblance? What's your Semblance?"  
"Environmental Playback," Jaune lied, "It means I'm able to see what happened in a place after it happened. It could be ugly."

"I see," the man said, backing out of the room and closing the door.

"Ring, Environmental Playback, two weeks ago," Jaune ordered.

A hologram of Ming sleeping appeared on the bed, and Jaune heard a scraping sound, turning around, he saw the hologram of a cloaked figure lifting the window open.

Ming stirred and looked up, looking into the cloak's hood and opened her mouth to scream, but in a flash, the figure wrapped their hand around her mouth, With catlike agility, the cloaked person jumped out the window with Ming in tow.

Jaune began to climb out the window to follow, but first called to Ming's father, "I see where she went, I'll be back soon!"

"Okay! Please bring her back safe!" the man called from the other side of the door.

"I'll do everything in my power to!" Jaune called back before jumping out the window and following the cloaked figure a mile and a half out of town. Jaune saw the figure approach the bottom of a cliff and used their Semblance to pull a portion of the wall out and then replace it.

Jaune donned his uniform and used his ring to open the secret passageway.  
There was a stairway deep underground, the passage lit by torches.

Jaune descended the stair and came to a long, stone hallway with a single door at the end.

Jaune began to make his way down the hallway when his foot sank. Looking down, Jaune realized he had stepped on a hidden switch.

Jaune heard a noise to his left. His head turned and he saw an arrow coming straight towards his head.

**MYNAPUS, SECTOR 2261**

Watts and John landed on the capitol building of the planet Mynapus. The forces of Divion IV and Veuter were both present, no doubt ready to fight if things went south.

Watts and John entered the chamber where the treaty would be signed if things went well.

The representatives of both planets were already in the chamber.

The royal blob Divian and the strangely birdlike representative of the Veutan empire began speaking to each other while John and Watts quelled hostilities and offered solutions to problems.

John was in the middle of speaking when he whipped around and constructed a barrier that blocked a laser bolt fired from a balcony. John then sent the barrier flying up to the balcony and squished the would-be assassin between it and the wall.

John turned to the diplomats with a cold fury and asked "What was that about?"

The diplomats stood silent, before looking at each other and back to John before shouting, "Attack!"

The soldiers on standby sprung into action and began shooting at John and Watts, who deftly dodged the lasers and flew up through the chamber roof and into the sky, where they found the fleets lying in wait.

The starfighters came flying towards them but crashed into a brick wall that John constructed.

"What's going on?" Watts asked, avoiding lasers and blasting starfighters.

"My best guess? A coup against the Green Lantern Corps," John answered. "They think taking down the leader will destabilize us."

"Well, would it?" Watts asked.

"No," John answered conclusively, "Now let's get outta here."

Taking to space, John and Watts left the planet with three fleets of spaceships on their tail.

**EASTBOURNE, REMNANT, SECTOR 3613**

The arrow nearly punched straight through Jaune's force field. It wasn't quite strong enough to obliterate it, but it came in deep enough to scratch Jaune above the eye before stopping.

Jaune pulled the arrow out of the force field, as blood poured into his left eye.

"Ring, what the hell is this made of?" Jaune asked.

_Feathers, wood, and stone. _The ring answered.

"Then how the hell did it almost break through my force field?" Jaune asked.

_The arrow is heavily enchanted._

"Enchanted? Like magic?" Jaune asked.

_Affirmative. _

Jaune looked up an wiped some blood out of his eye.

He wondered if this could be a stronghold of Salem?

Jaune took a step forward before stopping and telling his ring, "Scan for more traps."

The ring's beam scanned the hallway, and multiple areas lit up green. Jaune continued towards the door at the end of the hallway, carefully avoiding the revealed traps. Reaching the door, Jaune slowly opened it, revealing a scene straight out of a horror movie. A pentagram was painted on the floor in blood and five robed figures stood on each point, while a sixth stood above a tied down boy not much younger than Jaune with a knife. Jaune also noticed a door on the other end of the room.

The robed figure brought the knife down, but the metal never touched the flesh, as Jaune had grabbed the figure's wrist with his ring.

Jaune yanked the person towards him and punched them onto the ground before entrapping the remaining five people in bubbles.

Jaune approached the pentagram intent on checking if the boy was unhurt when he was blasted in the back and sent flying into the opposite wall.

Jaune turned around to see the person standing up with their arm outstretched, smoke rising off their hand.

"Who are you? How can you do magic?" Jaune asked, wiping more blood out of his eye.

"I am Lynn," she said.

"What are you trying to do here, Lynn?" Jaune asked.

"We are summoning back the gods to end our eternal torment," Lynn answered.

"Wh-what?" Jaune asked.

"Over the millennia, each of us came to the gods looking to cheat death, and they gave us what we wanted, knowing that sooner or later, we would come to see it as a curse, and slowly over the years, we began to resent our life, we wished to be free from this torment and move into the afterlife to see our loved ones," Lynn regaled.

"Salem wasn't the only one?" Jaune whispered to himself.

"Salem? That fool is the reason the gods left Remnant and we have endured this hardship as long as we have!" Lynn said angrily.

"I'm sorry. I really am. I know what it's like to lose someone you love, and your only wish is to die so you can see them again, but I can't let you bring the gods back," Jaune said sadly.

"Who are you to stand in the way of our freedom?!" Lynn seethed.

Jaune stood taller and once more wiped blood out of his eye before answering, "I'm Green Lantern."

Lynn aimed her hand at Jaune, before switching to the bubbles containing her brethren and firing magic blasts, shattering the constructs and freeing the other immortals.

The first sent an explosion towards Jaune, which he redirected upwards. As rubble fell, Jaune pointed his ring towards the boy who was tied down and constructed a bubble around him, to protect him from the combat.

Another of the immortals cast a spell on the debris, which contorted and twisted into quadripedal creatures, nearly the size of a wolf, with claws and fangs the size of daggers.

Jaune drew Crocea Mors and waited for the creatures to attack him, deflecting their claws off his shield and jumping out of the range of their bite, before striking them with his sword, causing them to fall back into the rocks they were born from.

One of the immortals came charging at Jaune with electricity surging in their hand, but before they could make contact with Jaune, he constructed a platform underneath their feet and flung it skyward, crushing them against the ceiling and into the world above.

Jaune shot his beam around the circumference of the chamber's roof, before sliding into the bubble around the boy, as the entire roof fell on the other combatants. Jaune quickly cute the ropes binding the boy and picked him up, flying to the surface where he told the boy, "Go home! Tell people not to come here, it's dangerous!"

The boy nodded and ran off as the five immortals surfaced to face Jaune again while the sixth came falling back down from the sky. Jaune must have launched him harder than he thought.

Lynn waved her hand and the enchanted arrows from the hallway flew up and towards Jaune, who constructed a wall to stop them. Most of the arrows flew straight into the wall and stopped, but a few flew around and struck Jaune, chipping his armor.

Jaune pointed his ring at the arrows stuck in the wall, and twisted them around, sending them in the direction of the immortals, who flew out of the way and into the sky, but Jaune and the arrows kept on their trail.

When they split off on their own, Jaune created constructs of his friends to herd them back into a group, where Jaune dropped a sixteen ton weight on the six of them.

Jaune landed and the construct blew up.

_Power Level 5%. _Jaune's ring chirped.

If Jaune didn't finish this fight soon, the immortals would fry him alive.

The six of them charged Jaune once more before Jaune bathed them all in a ray. The immortals became sluggish, their eyelids drooped, and they fell to the ground, sound asleep.

Before doing anything else, Jaune summoned his Power Battery and recharged his ring, after that he wrapped the immortals up in a nice gift box for whichever Green Lantern was maintaining the Sciencells on Mogo.

Jaune knew the next part would be the hardest. He knew what had become of the other ten people who were kidnapped.

Jaune floated down into the chamber and walked towards the other door, opposite the one he came through.

Jaune put his hand on the doorknob, taking a deep breath and steeling his nerves.

Pushing open the door, Jaune was met with the most repugnant smell imaginable.

Shining a light, into the room, Jaune found the disemboweled corpses of the ten other missing people.

Jaune actively fought back tears. He simply couldn't understand how someone could take an innocent life. Those people were monsters, and Jaune couldn't wait to bring his ring down on them.

Jaune constructed ten caskets and placed each body in the caskets before flying off back towards Eastbourne.

Jaune landed in the town, and slowly, people came out to see what was going on. When asked, Jaune could only meekly reply, "I couldn't save them. I'm sorry."

A few hours later after grieving with the town, Jaune flew home.

Deconstructing his uniform, Jaune only now truly registered what had happened to his armor. The gold that Pyrrha had given him was cracked and missing in places, but he wasn't in the mood to bring out his ring.

Jaune entered his house as his mother was making dinner and she said, "Hi, honey, how are you?"

"I'm alright," Jaune answered sullenly.

"You wanna talk about it?" Joan asked.

"No," Jaune denied.

As the silence hung between them, Grayson began to cry.

"Jaune, honey, I'm kinda in the middle of something here, can you take care of Grayson?"

"Sure," Jaune said, walking up the stairs and into Grayson's room, where he stopped cold and his heart skipped a beat.

Cinder Fall sat in a chair with Grayson in one arm, and her sword clutched in a brand new prosthetic.

"Hello, Jaune, or would prefer if I called you Green Lantern?"

**SECTOR 2261**

Watts and John flew through the vast expanse of the cosmos. Watts would be enjoying himself and staring in awe if there was not an entire armada on their trail. Lasers zipped past Watts' head and bounced off of his force field.

Channeling the Green Light, Watts fired a beam and cut through a handful of fighters.

Watts cursed himself. This was supposed to be simple. How did they get wrapped up in this?

The duo bobbed and weaved to avoid lasers. Watts shot down a few more fighters before it seemed like they were ceasing the chase.

"They're retreating," John said.

"Yes, I can see that," Watts snarked back.

"That's not normal for Divi-" John began when his eyes focused on something in the distance, "Do you see that?"

Watts squinted, making out a vague shape before fabricating a pair of binoculars and holding them up to his eyes.

Watts barely had time to register the military flagship before it let off a blast that collided with his gut and sent him spiraling down to the planet below. The last thing he saw before the darkness claimed him was John flying towards him.

Watts awoke with a start. The vivid dream of space, aliens, and magic rings was exciting at first, but when Watts could only assume he died, it became more disturbing.

Rolling out of bed, Watts started a shower and picked an outfit while the water heated up. When Watts finished his shower, he stood in front of his mirror and shaved, carefully avoiding his mustache. Watts then got dressed and checked his day's agenda on his Scroll. First up, a meeting with the council.

Watts slipped on his overcoat and left his home, locking the door behind him. As he walked down the street, several people looked his way and whispered to their companions. Watts couldn't help but swell with pride. His genius had been put to use in hundreds of ways across Remnant, saving and improving lives, and the world revered him for it, just as they should.

Watts arrived at where the council meeting was being held. While he wasn't a councilman himself, the council relied on his genius to help with issues.

Walking towards the council meeting room, Watts bumped into General Ironwood.

"Oh, sorry about that Arthur," Ironwood said, putting a hand out to steady the lanky man.

Deep down, Watts felt something was wrong, but he couldn't place what it was.

"It's quite alright, James. How are you today?" Watts asked.

"I am great!" Ironwood answered cheerfully before asking, "How are you?"

"Never better," Watts replied.

"Good, good. Council meeting's this way today," Ironwood said, ushering Watts down the opposite way the council meetings were usually held.

"Really? Why's that?" Watts asked.

"Someone broke in and vandalized the place the other night, it's being cleaned up now," Ironwood explained.

"But my security systems, they're infallible," Watts protested, fearing that someone had been able to get around his system.

"They still only work if they're turned on," Ironwood said.

"What idiot forgot?" Watts asked, secretly relieved that it had only been user error.

"That would be me," Ironwood said, scratching the back of his neck before stopping at a pair of double doors and saying, "Council meeting's right through here."

Watts opened the door and what he was met with was not a council meeting.  
It was a wide room with tables of food strewn about, with decorations thrown onto the walls, a stage in the back of the room, with a banner that said "Thank you, Arthur" hanging over it.

This was a party.

"James… what's all this for?" Watts asked.

"It's for you, Arthur," Ironwood replied simply.

"Why?" Was all Watts could say.

"For all your achievements and innovations, for all the lives you've saved and improved. You're our hero, Arthur," Ironwood said like it was the most obvious thing in the world before pushing him up onto the stage, where a microphone stood.

Watts turned to face the crowd, and all he could see were the adoring faces of people who appreciated his work.

That's when he knew this wasn't real.

Nobody appreciated anything Watts did. That's been a constant ever since he was a boy. Whatever world he was living in right now was a dream or illusion of some sort. It was all in his mind.

Watts closed his eyes tight, and when he opened them, he saw the sterile ceiling of the medical bay on Mogo.

Looking down at his chest, a sort of plant was attached, wrapped around his torso.

Watts spent a few minuted untangling it before throwing it to the ground, Watts pointed his ring at the plant and asked, "Ring, what is that?"

_That is a Black Mercy plant. When attached to a host, it traps them in a dream world where their heart's deepest desires are realized._

Watts let out a laser blast that incinerated the plant.

Straightening his coat and walking off, Watts wished he had been left in the dream world forever.

**ONE DAY EARLIER, ATLAS SUPERMAX PRISON, REMNANT, SECTOR 3613, **

Another day in prison ended with Cinder staring at the ceiling with phantom pains crawling up Cinder's nonexistent arm.

Cinder was just about to drift off to sleep when a voice from the shadows of her cell said her name.

Bolting up, Cinder whirled around to the source of the voice, but whoever it was was too cloaked in shadows to get a good look at, but Cinder could tell it was a man.

"Who are you?" Cinder asked, putting on a brave face.

A yellow light shone throughout the cell and the stranger's form was revealed to be General Ironwood.

"Guard! Guard!" Cinder shouted, banging on the bars.

"They can't hear you. I could torture you until the sun comes up, and no one would hear a thing." Ironwood said.

Cinder briefly noticed that the yellow light was coming from Ironwood's body.

"Wh-what do you want from me?"

"Your assistance in a matter," Ironwood said.

"What is that?" Cinder spat.

"You've been seeing the news lately, right? That superhero that's flying around called Green Lantern?"

"What about him?" Cinder asked, remembering the time he nearly killed her.

Ironwood smiled, but it was a literally inhuman smile. Rows of sharp teeth were on display and his mouth was larger than it should be.

A new gravelly and terrifying voice spoke from Ironwood's mouth, "I need him taken care of, and I think you're just the woman for the job. If you do, you get his ring, which is the source of his power. If you don't, you die."

It wasn't a choice. Cinder remembered the absolute power she had when one of those power rings was on her finger.

"I'll do it, but how am I supposed to get out?"

Whatever was puppeteering Ironwood's body pointed a finger at the wall and a blast of yellow energy sprang from his finger and blew it open before glowing yellow stairs appeared, going all the way to the ground, where a Manta Airship was waiting.

Cinder and Not-Ironwood descended the stairs and entered the Manta Airship which was being piloted by a Knight.

Not-Ironwood pointed a hand at a crate that was lying in the back of the airship, and a yellow glow surrounded it as it floated toward Cinder and opened to reveal the contents.

Midnight, clothes, and a prosthetic arm.

Cinder reached for the arm, and attached it to her stump. A few moments of calibrating and Cinder was back to her old self.

"What do I need to know about Green Lantern? How do I take him down?"

"Green Lantern's real name is Jaune Arc. You know him, don't you?"

Cinder raised an eyebrow, "That idiot? He's a superhero?"

"Yes. Now listen closely. He lives with his family in Rouen. You have no chance in a fight. Your best option is to take a hostage… I hear he has a new baby brother."

Cinder smirked.

"Is that everything you need?"

"No," Cinder said.

"What else do you want?"

"Who are you?" Cinder asked.

"My name is Parallax," Parallax said, before vanishing in a blast of yellow light.

Changing out of her prison jumpsuit, Cinder told the Knight, "Set a course for Rouen."

After the flight preparations were made, the airship took off and was headed towards Rouen.

**PRESENT DAY, ROUEN, REMNANT, SECTOR 3613**

Jaune pointed his ring at Cinder. A million thoughts were racing through his head, but the biggest one was how did Cinder know he was Green Lantern?"

Cinder pulled Grayson closer to her and said, "If you try to shoot me, I will skewer him, if you call for help, I will skewer him, if you refuse to give me my ring, I will skewer him."

"You know you're not fast enough to beat me. I could fry all your synapses right here," Jaune said.

"Maybe you could, but you'd risk hitting poor baby Grayson," Cinder said, holding her sword closer to Grayson's throat, "Give me your ring and your Power Battery, and I'll let you both live, if you don't the baby dies."

"If he dies, so do you," Jaune said.

"Maybe, but you know you wouldn't be able to live with yourself if anything happened to him," Cinder said, "Now give me my ring."

Jaune knew he could do it. He was fast enough. Wasn't he? He wasn't fast enough to save those people that had been sacrificed, he'd never been fast enough or good enough. He wasn't good enough to fight by Pyrrha's side, or take down Cinder at Haven. Why would he start being good enough now? Jaune finally started to think, and he realized he'd never measured up. His self-confidence was always shaky, but now that his brother was facing death, it crumbled.

Jaune took his ring off of his finger, and said, "Give me Grayson, and you get the ring."

"You're in no position to make demands," Cinder said, laughing.

"Well I don't trust for a second that you're going to let him live if you get what you want."

"And I don't believe that you'll give me my ring if you get your brother out of harm's way."

"I give you my word, and I never go back on it," Jaune said.

"Is that so?" Cinder asked.

"Yes," Jaune answered.

Cinder looked like she was thinking for a moment before she put Grayson on the floor and walked back. Jaune walked over and picked the boy up.

"Gods forgive me," Jaune muttered before he tossed the ring over to Cinder, who eagerly snatched it out of the air and slipped it on her finger.

Cinder then pointed the ring at both Jaune and Grayson. Jaune quickly deployed his shield and activated his Aura while covering Grayson with his body, fear gripping his heart.

_Green Lantern of Sector 3613. Lethal force is not sanctioned._

Upon hearing those words, Jaune put Grayson down and turned to face Cinder, who was already gone.

Jaune was suddenly hit by a wave of shame. He had just given the most powerful weapon in the universe to the person he hated most. He had kept his word as he prided himself on, but something far worse than his pride was about to be sacrificed. Remnant's freedom.

As Jaune was wallowing in shame and disgust, he realized something. A saving grace.

Cinder didn't know about the charge, the battery, or the oath.

There was hope.

**Thanks to DeltaFell for editing this chapter!**


End file.
